Baddha Padasana

Baddha Padasana

Yoga recently became a lot more difficult. I have been placed in a Baddha Padasana for about a month. I have been bound by a boot on my left foot, leaving me unable to fully practice yoga. This was something that was incredibly frustrating and depressing, seeing as I have just recovered from a shoulder surgery. My personal and class practices have been affected greatly. 

Seeing as I am an instructor and part of my job is to demonstrate the poses to ensure that everyone is doing them correctly and safely, I am not able to fully do my job. My boot greatly limits what I can do in my yoga practice. With the boot on, it raises my right foot about an inch or two off the ground, making alignment impossible. With the  boot off, I am not supposed to be walking on my foot and doing things that would irritate the apparently excessively fragile tendon. 

This experience has been incredibly humbling. The thing that has helped me the most in teaching my classes are my students. I have a small handful of students that come religiously and are exceptionally talented. I now rely on those to demonstrate the poses that I am unable to do, letting them do essentially half of my job. This has helped me to understand that everyone is interwoven in a symbiotic lifestyle. Everyone needs something from another person. This has helped to realize that there is a greater scheme in everything in life. We are not just independent people on a path set in stone. Everyone's paths are interwoven in a grand scheme too large for our puny brains to understand. So, in a sense, having my foot bound has unbound my mind to a new concept.

Now, my practice in class has made me realize something else with my boot. Inversions and arm balances are my new best friends. Seeing as there is nothing wrong with my head and arms (as of now and subject to change; also, for a better illustration, I am currently pounding on wood to ward off any superstitious pre-dispositions), I am able to fully do poses that rely on my upper body. This has been a drastic change since last semester when my shoulder was decommissioned. I am greatly surprised by the amount of yoga I can still do in my currently incapacitated state.

I am also loving the harder poses that we are incorporating into the class. Headstands are one of my favourite things to do and now only things I can do. So, having a class period where I can work on perfecting one of my best poses is something that I look forward to every class. Also, with the idea of forearm stands on the horizons, I cannot wait for the progression of class. The boot has greatly incapacitated my abilities in yoga, but it has also given me the opportunity to work on yoga in a way that I have never worked on it before. It has limited my abilities so that I can work on approaching yoga from a perspective I would have never done, unless I was injured like I am. There is a silver lining in everything, even if it is a handicapped parking tag and an excuse to practice headstands. 

This brings us to the readings. One of the most concerning things I have with my boot is the consequences it puts on my practice. In the Sutras, Patanjali greatly emphasizes how important it is to be steadfast and frequent in one's practice. However, how am I to practice when I physically cannot? He further differentiates between the types of people with their practice, whether they are mild, average, or keen. My goal is to be keen in my practice. My boot on the other-hand is not conducive to this plan. I can transfer some of my practice to a more meditative state. This would still leave me feeling like I am lacking in practice. 

Finally, one of the most interesting topics in yoga has finally been addressed, which is the idea of a higher power or God. Most evangelical Christians cringe at the thought of practicing yoga. I even had a small argument with a church leader about how yoga is bad because it clears our mind, which allows for Satan to enter into it. (If you're wondering how that turned out, I essentially just nodded and let him get it out of his system before purging what he had said from my memory banks). From Christians that avoid yoga like the plague to "Christian-based yoga," in which they give a different Bible quote for each pose, I have encountered so many ideas that yoga and Christianity are mutually exclusive. However, when one reads deeper into the yoga sutras, it is apparent that Patanjali emphasizes the importance of a higher power, which even translates as God. This shows that the only way to true enlightenment and self-transcendence is through the paths of God. Through this not-so-difficult conclusion, I am able to sleep soundly at night, convinced that my practice of yoga does not negate my devotion to the Lord.

T-minus 3 weeks until I become unbound.

Namasté, my fellow yogis and yoginis,

Upward-facing Bear