The Uncompromised Practice

The Uncompromised Practice

September 13th, 2013

Uncompromised 1.jpg

Yoga is not for the faint of heart, it is for those who wish to build some strength within their body, heart and mind.  It is a never-ending exploration of self that leads us down a path that winds, twists, rises upward and narrows into deep troughs, yet ultimately we find our way to liberation and love.

While we practice Yoga we often find ourselves diverted from our intentions, one moment feeling the fleeting joy of liberation and the next finding ourselves back in the deep borough or trough of attachment.   It is those times when we find ourselves attaching to our practice, a teacher, a style of yoga or a way of being that individually or combined creates a sense of restriction, limitation, or suffering.

Yet Yoga gives us the time and space to break free of these attachments and of self-limiting habits, to become engaged with the unknown with a touch of gentleness that supports our self-growth.  In that timeless nature of our practice, the churning mind stills and a clarity begins to reflect to us those habits that are no longer serving us.  The practice of Yoga is like the rescue ladder that helps us to lift ourselves out of those deep troughs of self-limiting habits and beliefs.

The Uncompromised Practice is an opportunity for you to explore the habits of your practice, and charter new territories of your physical body, the mind, your breath and the emotional essence of your being.

What do we mean by “uncompromised practice?”  As a Yoga instructor I often see how others (and I feel in my own practice) are driven by the goal setting mind which pushes us past a restriction, over and over again, to reach the intended place that the mind’s eye (ego) sees as the ‘accomplished’ pose.  At the same time somewhere between the start of the pose and the end there were many unseen opportunities to explore, expand, unleash and connect.   It is when I release expectations and striving that I begin to find the “uncompromised practice” path, and start to explore all of that unchartered territory.

Each time you practice Yoga you have the opportunity to break free or hold on. Your practice is a safe playground to play the edge of something new, unusual, unchartered, and unsure or fall back into the ruts of your habits.  Yoga seems to have a constant question that underlies each breath, “Are you ready to surrender or do you still need to hold on?”  What I continue to find so beautiful within the practice of Yoga is that the answer to that question is irrelevant; we just keep on checking in and being present!  Surrender or hold on?

Habits are ripe with compromise, as we move mindlessly or automatically rather than with awareness in and out of our poses.  The Uncompromised Practice, with its deep awareness, no longer puts us into positions or movement patterns that expose our joints and muscles to risk, or future injury.  We are attuned to the whole range of movement in the pose, as we flow with awareness in that present moment.

Acceptance and awareness are the anchors of the “uncompromised practice.”  We first use awareness to feel our way through our practice, freeing the thinking mind from directing us, finding the feeling heart which notes what IS happening, not what “should” be.   In awareness we can melt into the heart of acceptance, seeing the chains or binds that have limited us to experience unlimited potential in the moment.

The Uncompromised Practice is goal free, yet full of intention.  There is no should in the Uncompromised Practice, there is acceptance, awareness, intention, and allowing.  The many shoulds that bind us become the limitless potential (the unsure) that frees us.

Uncompromised 2.jpg

The next time you find yourself on or off your mat in practice take a moment to look around and see what you’ve been missing.

Here are a few ideas on how to make the shift to an Uncompromised Practice.

  • Try something new –  New teacher, new style of class, new location all can bring us a new approach, or give us a fresh look to our practice.

  • Slow down – What’s the hurry?  Building awareness takes time.

  • Attend to the flow – As you move from one pose to another pay attention to ALL of the phases of movement, breath and intention you are using.

  • Feel IT! – Use your heart intelligence to feel everything you can as you practice.  Don’t tune out from your feelings, TUNE IN!  There is so much information in the sensations you are feeling.

  • Observe – What is the mind telling you?  What is the heart feeling?  The dance between these two great powers is crucial to the practice.  Don’t let the mind push you beyond what the body and heart are telling you is happening.

  • Don’t Worry – You will grow, change, improve and develop even without that old pattern you are attached to.  Maybe even more than you can imagine!

One breath at a time, awareness builds, time slows down, you find yourself in a fertile field of expanding possibilities!  Onward, fearlessly you go!

Melissa Ingram