When More Yoga is Not Better – Sutra I-8

May 21, 2012 | Healing, Wisdom, XSutras, xTmp, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching , Yoga Therapy | 0 comments

Slogan with three circles overlapping with the word 'real' in the middle position.

Being honest with oneself

I have been doing yoga for so long that I should know better. I should have learned from past injuries you would think.
This morning, after having done a long bicycle ride to the river yesterday, I could feel twinges in my left shoulder blade. I guess my riding posture is not the best.
I decided that I would dig in to the problem in my yoga practice to see if I could eradicate the discomfort I was experiencing.
I made up my mind that this was just a reoccurrence of a slight rotator cuff injury that has surfaced a couple of times in the past. Also, and ironically, I felt I needed to be working on some therapy movements, preparations, and alternative poses for a workshop on inversions I’m teaching in Byron Bay in June.
Sigh. I probably misread my body’s needs. Rest, kindness, and pranayama all might have been a more thoughtful approach.
At least I do know better than beating myself up. At times like this, I remember the lines:
“How do we know where our limits are? By going over them.”
And also:
“Good judgment comes from experienceExperience comes from bad judgment.”
The old sage, Patanjali, has described these sorts of human foibles in his Yoga Sutra. This one is especially applicable to my situation:

Viparyayah mithya-jnanam atad-rupa-pratistham

Misperception is false knowledge, not based on what actually is.*
Back to the physio….
*The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Chip Hartranft

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