Where is ‘the work’ in your yoga practice?

There is something that everyone practising yoga shares. Whether you are a complete beginner in your first class or an advanced yogi with decades of experience, you know where the ‘work’ is when you practise.


The beginner may be struggling with wrist pain or tight hamstrings, unable to stay in Downward Dog for more than a few breaths, and the advanced yogi may be struggling to get that left knee behind the head which is really frustrating because the right one only took 10 years to get there . . . . .


Whatever your work is, that’s where the yoga takes place.


Observe the point where the work is, examine your reaction to it, because this is where the real yoga occurs.


Yoga doesn’t happen when you ‘master’ a pose, whatever that means. Yoga happens when you accept your body is not yet ready to get into positions that your mind wants it to go.


Yoga happens when you push your body hard enough so it learns what might be possible one day, but steps back from causing yourself an injury. You take it right to the edge, but no further. Knowing where that edge is, that’s yoga. To use Erich Schiffman’s terminology, when you can ‘flirt with your tight spots’, that’s yoga.


By observing yourself closely at these points you are practising:

• ahimsa (non-harming)
• satya (facing the truth in the moment, being honest with yourself)
• svadhyaya (studying your own reactions and learning about yourself)

and it is an opportunity to practise santosha (contentment and satisfaction of being where you are, without judgement).

So the next time you are struggling, observe how your mind is responding to the physical challenge and dwell on this:


this moment is teaching you exactly the same lessons that you will learn again when you go to more advanced poses, so why get frustrated that you are where you are?