Even though I’m not a Halloween person (I like it just fine, but I’m not a big deck the house with Halloween decorations and dress up kind of person), I’m a bit inspired by the holiday this year so today’s post has a bit of a Halloween type theme. I’m in New York City all day tomorrow (which I’m sure will be quite an experience), so this post comes a day early.

Let’s start with Yoga Ghouls. No, I’m not talking about scary creatures that walk around with a yoga mat under their arms. I’m talking about yoga postures that scare you. I think we’ve all experienced discomfort with a pose at one point of another, yes? I’ve known folks that are petrified to come up into Tree for fear of falling over. I also know folks who avoid Crow pose like the plague because they worry that they’re going to land in a heap, directly on their head. Then there are the folks who won’t attempt Half Moon without a wall nearby for fear of taking a spill worthy of a Hollywood stuntperson. Others break out into a cold sweat when Wheel pose is mentioned, as they fear that they’ll be stuck in that position for life (if, they can, in fact get into the position without an ominous CRACK coming from their back)

I had the ignorance of a child when it came to yoga. I didn’t think about hurting myself, I simply tried everything. I distinctly remember times that I’m lucky I didn’t injure myself — like when I just started practicing yoga and came up into Wheel pose (in my living room, no less) without proper preparation (I had a bit of a monkey see-monkey do attitude back then). Then there were the multiple times that I did, in fact, fall on my head when attempting crow and falling on my posterior (and taking the coffee table down with me) while losing my balance in Half Moon. Ah, to be brave and crazy.

The one pose that struck some fear in my heart was headstand. I was plagued by thoughts of neck and spinal injuries and visions of paralysis. I fought the fear, and started by using a wall for support. Once I got the feeling of the alignment of the pose and figured out which muscles I needed to support me, I braved it out in the middle of the room. Over time I made friends with my fear and eventually it faded into the background. Today I hardly give a second thought when I come up into headstand.

Since then I’ve eased up on the fear factor. After all, an asana practice is supposed to have sthira and sukha — comfort, strength, ease, steadiness, etc. And these qualities don’t just apply to the physical, but the mental/emotional as well. Let’s say my body is able to get into a forearm balance but my mind is filled with trepidation and tension? Is that yoga? That’s muscling through rather than flowing. Yet, that’s how I mastered headstand, right?

My headstand experience taught me that it’s not about fear, but it is about pushing edges. That’s why there’s no one-size-fits-all yoga. It’s about the practitioner and his/her feeling in the pose. Only the practitioner knows if he/she has sthira and sukha. Of course a teacher or bystander could also tell if they pay attention to the breath. Breathing a sure-fire giveaway if one is struggling in a pose.

I aim to push my edges in my practice and in my life. But when it comes to my practice, I pay attention to fear, because it could lead to an injury. There are other ways to push edges on a mat — like holding a pose longer or not going as deep as you usually go or focusing on flowing both in body and in breath or simply working up to a scary pose gradually, over time. In my mind, that’s the safe way to explore your edges in a yoga practice. And to make scary yoga a lot less scary. It’s not a contest — you don’t have to master any one posture to call yourself a yogi. It’s not about pushing yourself and scaring yourself — it’s about having compassion and acceptance (and sthira and sukha, of course).

What’s really scary is when folks don’t follow this. That’s when injuries happen. I’ve met quite a few teachers who have goals of learning all of these fancy, tricky, and acrobatic postures. I always ask them why they want to master that particular pose. I often get met with a dumbfounded look, as if even they don’t know why. Perhaps they feel that as a teacher they should be able to do all sorts of fancy yoga tricks to impress their students. I look at it another way — by doing this, what, exactly, are you teaching your students?

Still, many believe that muscling through can offer benefits. I suggest working up gradually. Here’s an article from Yoga Journal that addresses this very topic — doing poses that you “hate.” It’s an interesting read for the positive side of attempting scary poses.

Because not everyone practices with sthira and sukha and because many believe in one-size-fits-all-yoga, there’s a debate raging around yoga and whether or not it’s helpful or harmful to the body. The debate is a fascinating one, and I urge you to check it out and weigh in with your opinion. Click here to see opposing views on whether yoga harms the body or not.

After all this seriousness, I’d like to end on a funny, Halloween note. A fellow yogi from Massachusetts sent me a link to a funny (if you like Michael Jackson’s Thriller) Yoga Zombie video. The video was created to promote a book entitled The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead. I must admit that I was a bit curious about this odd title. If you’re curious as well, you can read a review here.  Who knew that zombies can teach us such valuable lessons? I guess they do double-duty — Halloween frights and examples to live by.

Have a delightful Halloween!

Namaste!