So it’s tricky this yoga practice of ours, and it’s complicated, taking a practice that began on a mat and now, as time passes, needing to change the emphasis from mat, to mind and attitude
With age you gain wisdom but there’s a loss too. The loss of flexibility, the loss of potential, the Yoga Sutras tell us that everything changes and that’s true, an inevitability.
But how do we cope with the experience of our yoga spreading outwards off the mat and moving into guiding our lives. Well most of it is amazingly wonderful, our understanding of relationships, the way we know how we have the freedom to deal with each situation that arises in a different way than we used to.
The wisdom is joyful, but as yoga becomes known only as a mat based form of exercise, we struggle a little, there’s a bit of frustration, a bit of anger, still to be dealt with. Our cry of “this is not yoga” can go unheard, it’s almost a whisper.
Unless we stop calling mat based exercise classes yoga, and start calling them asana, we are going to lose touch with the practice of yoga in all its eight limbed glory.
And those that have reached the wisdom age, that have always practiced, that are now letting go of their mat based practice, will be made to feel that they no longer do yoga.
A little maintenance for the body is enough, our place in yoga changes, we work on good relationships, good attitudes, we work on contentment, we work on community.
Our yoga works outwards from the mat to all that surrounds us.
The Yoga for Health and Education Trust is here to support you, for those in their wisdom age, and for those who have not felt included in the rise of body focused yoga and wish to gain a supportive sangha that will help you move forward from mat to life skills and yoga community.
So from those of us that have reached our wisdom age, that are moving our practice forward, come and explore with us, there is so much more to practicing yoga than you could ever imagine.
Gill Ansty
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