Just Be Interested

Some of you have heard me speak about Mary Dunn, an amazing and beloved Iyengar Yoga teacher who trained and inspired a whole generation of teachers like me. Among many other memorable teachings, Mary used to say that the main thing about approaching a yoga practice was simply to be interested in it. To me, that means that instead of worrying about being “good” at yoga, I am free instead to be curious, open minded, engaged, and present with whatever I am doing.

In this mode, the ambition to “get it right” is replaced with attention, sensitivity, and exploration through trial and error. Paradoxically, it seems to me that improvement in our execution of the postures comes more readily when we let go of our goal orientation, and instead get deeply engaged in the process of whatever asana we are doing.

The ego is, by nature, dissatisfied with the present. The egoic mind asks questions like:

“Why isn’t this pose coming better after all my efforts?”
“Why can this other person do so much better than I can?”
“Why can’t I do it the way I used to?”
“Why can’t I go further?”

The egoic questions are endless. But they can be replaced by what I call “yogic questions.” A yogic question could start with the words

“What happens when I …?”

What happens when I press my heels down into the floor? What happens when I lift my side ribs? What happens when I do an action on a slow exhalation? A sharp exhalation? What happens when I relax my eyes? What happens when I quiet the front brain and let intuition guide me?

Yogic questions help us learn to observe  the effects of our actions, and lead us toward better understanding of the dynamic interactions between body, breath and mind. The yogic questions are also infinite, but they lead us deeper into our inquiry. They may help us view a yoga asana not as something to accomplish, but as a situation designed to invite investigation and discovery.

Each attempt at a yoga posture is a lab in which we can examine the layers of self, from the outermost pores of the skin to the innermost core of our being. By approaching an asana as a process to experience, instead of as a goal to be achieved, the ego and its ambitions may be set aside, as we become absorbed in the timeless present.

In Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, B.K.S. Iyengar writes the following in his commentary on Sutra II:5:

“As the process of thought and action have existed from the beginning of civilization, so has trial and error been used in the search for knowledge.”

Our full engagement in that process of trial and error is fueled by our genuine curiosity and interest in what we are doing. The state of presence that we then experience becomes its own reward.

If Iyengar Yoga is inspiring you, please tell a friend about Green Tara Yoga and let them know that they can get One Free Class.

Namaste,
Karen