Body and Breath - Yoga Shop Talk

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Yoga shoptalk, May, 2002

I am 62 years old, practiced Iyengar yoga from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, and became very flexible. I discontinued my practice because of work and family pressures, but resumed it two years ago because I was becoming painfully stiff. Thanks to yoga, the pain is now gone and the stiffness is slowly going away, but it is very hard not to compare what I can do now with what I used to be able to accomplish. My favorite sequence was the variation of the plow with knees touching the ground, going to the shoulder stand, then to the bridge and back again, holding each pose for about two minutes. Now after two years of almost daily practice for an hour each day, my plow needs two inches of supporting blankets for my toes to barely reach the ground, my shoulder stand needs the support of a wall, and my baby bridge is accomplished from first lying on the floor. I wish I had continued my practice as a first priority and never gotten into this mess at all. Are there any separate exercises that would help, or is continual patient practice what I should do?

Answer: My first thought is that you are doing great. You are making progress and improving flexibility, even though it may seem slow. Many middle-aged and older people find that even with prolonged practice they seem not to make any progress at all as far as improving flexibility is concerned. Second, you seem not to be injuring yourself. It is very common that people past their 30s try to re-establish a practice that was routine for them at an earlier age and soon injure themselves, thus setting themselves back instead of regaining their former flexibility.

And what to do: Think about the possibility of studying hatha yoga in its traditional role as a method of self-inquiry, patiently continuing your practice without having the object of accomplishing some end. Also review the yamas and niyamas. They will be a wonderful inspiration to you. Write them down as a daily practice early in the morning 30 days in a row, think about them, and make them a part of your life. It is no accident that they are traditionally studied before asana and pranayama. Then coming to asana, try remaining in the postures a little longer than has been your habit, draw your attention inward, and ask yourself questions regarding the nature of each posture. And please refrain from measuring "progress" in terms of how far you can come into each pose. Concentrate rather on enjoying the postures and on the insights that you gain from them.

Finally, if you are not already a teacher, you might want to consider entering a teacher training program. I think you would be very gifted in guiding students skillfully and lovingly, and doing so from your own experience. You have learned valuable lessons in the limitations of muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons, and you now know they are creatures of habit. You know these things from experience, which is the first and foremost rule for teaching yoga, and you can be a wonderful inspiration to everyone in challenging circumstances who is looking for guidance.