Yoga practice and the yogi

American Astanga Vinaysa teacher David Swenson once quoted a definition of yoga and the yogi:-

"A yogi is one who leaves a place a little nicer than when they arrived"

Just because we practice yoga does not make us yogis. A lot of people mistakenly imagine the world of yoga to be different from the rest of the world, whereas actually in a lot of cases yoga amplifies us more, defining not just our better qualities but also those not so nice ones as well. Those prone to ego can grow an even bigger one as it were.

Practicing yoga doesn't change a person overnight. All the difficulties of everyday life are still there as soon as you get off your mat and the only thing we can control is our reaction to these difficulties.

We are all human and we all make mistakes. However hard we try we will probably continue to make mistakes. And while it is easy to spot flaws in other people it is maybe not so easy to spot them in ourselves.

There is much competitiveness in the yoga world today and a lot of this comes out in our projections onto ourselves and other people. For example, and strong flexible teacher battling with their equally strong ego may berate and chastise a scoliosis sufferer because they cannot perform the asanas to the incredibly high standard they expect from themselves, they do not understand the condition and their lack of understanding and empathy comes out in aggression and ego. However there are two sides to the same coin. Yoga practice can also amplify that lack of self-esteem and self-acceptance that the scoliosis sufferer may have; the negative thoughts towards their body for not physical postures in the way they thing they should, the lack of acceptance towards their own body just the way it is. The strong flexible teacher reacts negatively to the condition of scoliosis and the scoliosis sufferer reacts negatively towards their practice. While both may be practicing yoga, neither is a yogi. Neither leaves the practice room nicer than when they arrived.

We have to cultivate patience, we cannot control the actions of others, and it is not these actions or statements per se that we must concern ourselves with but rather the way in which we react to them. We can choose to listen, to participate, in competitiveness, ego and negative feelings or we can tread our own path and try to create examples of openmindedness and compassion, transcending not only the competitiveness around us but also our physical bodies themselves, wonky spines and all. It is our choices in life that define us, and thus we should all strive to become yogis rather than yoga practitioners.

Yoga, as a wise and wonderful woman once told me, is not about standing on your head. It is about standing on your own two feet.