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Experienced Yoga practitioners often feel discouraged when a
naturally gifted dancer, gymnast, or martial artist, performs an
advanced asana with little effort. As I have mentioned before,
there are people with elongated joint capsules and their
extraordinary range of motion is a gift. You and I may have to
work at it, but the many rewards of Yoga practice are still
there.
Yoga consists of many facets, and Asanas, are just one of the
many parts of Yoga. Many students who have extraordinary
flexibility admit they struggle with another part of Yoga - such
as: The student who just can't calm down to meditate, balancing
in asanas, Pranayama, Yogic Philosophy, and so on.
Unfortunately, I have seen many promising Yoga practitioners
quit practicing Yoga, due to a competitive mind-set. Within
their own minds - they were in competition with every student in
the class and, possibly, their Yoga teacher too.
Remember that Yoga means "union." In simple terms, we can say
union of mind, body, and spirit. There are many more
explanations about union, but that could be a separate article.
There are also many branches of Yoga and, therefore, many types
of union, but competition is far from union.
Competition enhances the ego, and the ego is just a part of your
personality. The ego resists union for its own survival. The ego
is our social mask and does not want to share anything.
Remember, the next time you start to feel envious of another
student or teacher - that is not union. If anything, it will
hold you back from union and many more valuable contributions
that Yoga can make to your life.
© Copyright 2005 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
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