A comment on poses of the month

I wanted to clarify the intentions behind this whole pose of the month stuff that we do here at YL.  It is a tradition that I grew up with so to speak.  Jiva Mukti did it when I practiced there, Saraswati River yoga also had a pose and subject of the month, even when I was practicing Karate we had a kata and technique of the month. I love the opportunity to dive into a topic and/or pose as a student and also as a teacher. I ask the staff and advanced teacher trainees to see what they would like to see highlighted for the month coming up, and after some back and forth, we pick a pose and/or topic and try to match them up so there is some connection. Sometimes it is a students who makes a request. (You send a request via email).  I will often times pick a pose I don't like to practice or to teach, just so you know I am in the same boat as you! 

We offer a pose of the month  for two basic reasons. One is to give people who might struggle with the pose some info that can change  their approach. Whether it is bending your knees in down dog, turning hands out a bit in Bakasana, using the wall for support, finding a strengthening pose for head stand or hand stand preparation, or doing a completely different pose that might access the same muscle groups as the pose of the month.  Since my training is in yoga therapy, I might see something in your body that you haven't- and so can make a suggestion for a modification you may not have tried before. I also have the advantage of actually seeing your body, which is not something so available to you when you are in the pose.  So please, ask me! If not in class, before or after. I can almost guarantee we can find a way for you to approach whatever pose it is in a sattvic and satisfying way.  All the teachers at Yoga Loka are trained to investigate in the same way.

The other reason for pose of the month applies to those who find the pose easy, and maybe even mindless.  Hopefully during the month that person will find a way to intensify it, whether it be through an advanced modification, or more attention to the finer details, even sometimes making the movement smaller. 

In any case, we will all have a more intimate relationship with the pose, whether you end up liking it or not.  Remember, aversion and desire are not to be upheld in our yoga practice, we are trying to defeat that duality that ultimately costs us so much. 

So please, don't stay away from class when you hear the pose of the month is one you don't like, or even one that causes you pain. Let's work together to change that relationship.  Staying with it brings us one step closer to changing the negativity in our relationship to ourselves. We can also begin to realize how much power we have when we walk up to something difficult or distasteful,  look it in the face, and then find peace in the encounter.