Why Advanced Yoga Doesn’t Make Sense
If you search “Advanced Yoga” or attend a level 2 or 3 class you’ll quickly learn that advanced yoga means really hard poses and gymnast-like contortions of the body. I’m here to tell you that is not my belief and why I believe this philosophy is creating a corporate rat race of achievement in the yoga industry. Students are leaving class more stressed and wound up then when they came in. More ‘yoga injuries’ are occurring every day. This, to me, is NOT yoga. You'll often hear me say in classes “if you get injured in a yoga you weren’t really doing yoga.” I wholeheartedly believe in this message because yoga is about being mindful of your breath, mind and body all at the same time. When this connection is present it’s impossible to even allow yourself to get to the point of injury. But when we’re are thrust into a fast paced, workout style yoga class we don’t have time to think and are often playing catch up with the teachers cues. The dirty little secret that mainstream, corporate yoga won’t tell you is this…Yoga is NOT a workout. It was never intended to be. It is actually more of a maintenance program with the purpose of teaching you to be more present and focused in your life off the yoga mat. In your relationships and interactions with others and yourself. It’s important you leave a yoga class feeling energized and refreshed - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Whether it’s a power class or a yin class it’s important you leave feeling empowered and rejuvenated. Not exhausted and beat up.
My teaching inspiration comes from many places and I feel lucky and grateful to have been pointed in the direction of some really great teachers that I look up to as mentors. One of those great teachers is based in Santa Monica, LA and his name is Bryan Kest. I follow his blog and emails, have visited his previous studio several times and truly love how he makes power yoga accessible to everyone. This piece is inspired by him and I’m simply sharing a message I also believe in. Just like my yoga classes, none of what I teach is my own creation or ideology. Yoga is an ancient practice that I choose to offer and share with you in a way that it has been shared with me. I’m simply paying it forward.
Consider the Teachers Background to Find the Perfect Fit
Bryan lays out two points as to why advanced yoga is absurd. First, a teachers background in physical exercise plays a large role in how they offer yoga. Yoga instructors and students who come from backgrounds such as dance or gymnastics can perform “advanced yoga” poses as defined by Google with relative ease regardless of their experience level in yoga. Does that make it advanced? What if it was their first class but they can kick up into handstand on their very first try? That doesn’t seem like a very accurate assessment of advanced yoga, does it? Take me for example - someone who’s a dedicated yoga student for over 10 years and still unable to (and uninterested in) handstand or headstand because it doesn’t feel good for my neck and shoulders. I still have tight hamstrings and so I keep my knees bent in downward dog because I can feel more space being created in my spine. A little tightness also means I can generate more power when I’m playing sports, jumping and running. That’s my background and what I can relate too….tightness and lack of flexibility. Does any of this mean I’m not an advanced yoga student after more than a decade of practice? Am I really still a beginner because I modify my practice to support my athletic endeavours?
Going Against Nature - Regression is Inevitable
When we are constantly measuring our yoga progress through the physical realm we are fighting against nature and the inevitable regression that comes as the body ages. Injury risk is heightened when physical achievement becomes the goal and primary purpose. We end up creating the same corporate rat race of accomplishment that exists outside of yoga inside of yoga. We allow ourselves to get caught up in satisfaction and achievement, measuring progress by level of difficulty and pushing through beyond our means. Inevitably this will lead to injury the same way it can lead to burnout in the working world. It’s simply not sustainable to maintain a life-long practice or a life-long career in this way. If I see a student is listening to their body so closely that they skip a part of class in order to rest in childs pose, to me, that is an advanced yoga skill. That is an experienced student that has a deep level of awareness and understanding of what they need versus what their ego is telling them.
Journey > Destination
The second point Bryan emphasizes is the journey itself. When I teach a more challenging class or yoga pose I explain to students that whether you do all of it perfectly or not is irrelevant. This is difficult for us to understand because there isn’t a real world example that promotes this way of thinking. When you head on vacation how excited are you really about the long drive or the 12 hour flight? You want to get to that hotel, beach, cottage and start your vacation ASAP! Yoga teaches us the exact opposite. It teaches us to understand the value of the journey and appreciate what’s in front of us at any given moment. Being present allows us an opportunity to find value and beauty throughout the entire journey. it gives us the chance to honour our body and take breaks as we need them. What often happens and is completely natural because of the world around us, is we get fixated on burning as many calories as possible or we get upset and frustrated when we don’t see the results right away and question is we are truly strong enough, flexible enough or good enough? How you respond internally to your yoga practice is a critical lesson and an advanced skill that cannot be measured in the physical realm. Ask yourself this question. Is the internal dialogue happening for you during your practice something that aligns with the type of person you want to be? How you respond on your mat is a reflection of how you respond off the mat. It’s called a yoga practice for a reason because there’s always something to learn and absolutely nothing to achieve. You don’t graduate poses. You’re going to practice downdog and warrior 2 for the rest of your life. 20 years in and you’re still going to be working with those same poses. That doesn’t change. So instead, focus on the internal exploration rather than the physical challenge because measuring your progress through physical shapes doesn’t make sense, doesn’t align with yoga and just isn’t that great for you in the long run. In Bryan’s own words “No white light descends upon us as our head touches our legs, and you most likely will not feel kundalini shoot up your a**hole if if you can stick your legs behind your head.”
Define Your Purpose
So think about your purpose for a yoga class. If your purpose is fitness then a yoga class doesn’t make sense for your needs. It’s inherently limited as a form of fitness. If you want to lose weight or get stronger, you need weights. You need a strength program. I believe every yoga student should strength train to maximize the longevity of their lives. Yoga cannot be the workout. It can most certainly support the workout though. It can support athletic recovery, prevent injury and promote balanced flexibility. Yoga can be the perfect compliment to well thought out fitness regime and optimize the balance in your life. It really is a dream combination to me. A combination of weight training alongside yoga and meditation can solve a lot of our challenges. Give it a try! You won’t regret it.
Life circumstances will also dictate your purpose. Your yoga practice will be a reflection of where you are in your personal life. If you are a parent then your yoga class is likely at the end of a long effing day of chasing after your kids, feeding them, changing them, cleaning them repeatedly and looking after everyone else’s needs before your own. Your main purpose is likely stress relief and rest. Jumping into an “advanced yoga” class and trying to balance on your hands is likely to create more of the same angst and tension in your mind and body that you’ve been carrying with you all day. A class like that will most likely leave you feeling even more exhausted. It’s as if you are choosing to hit the gym after running a half marathon. It doesn’t make any sense at all. You need a yin or restorative class but you’ll never see that come up in a level 2 or 3 class. Does that mean you’re not advanced in your yoga practice if you’re aware enough to realize what your body needs and nourish it in exactly the perfect way? Quite the opposite actually. That recognition is a true sign of an advanced yoga student to me.
It just doesn’t make sense 🤷🏽♂️
It just doesn’t make sense to me that advanced yoga is being taught as fast paced, acrobatic movements that leave you dripping with sweat. It leaves most of us more wound up and more anxious than when we came into class to reduce those very same things. We already live in an overstimulated world so why lean into that even more? Need a workout? Go workout. Need help building a mind body connection to release stress, reduce anxiety and recover from the more strenuous aspects of your life? Then come to yoga. Learn to be more present and make your practice a place of refuge that leaves you feeling empowered and refreshed. I wish we could change the word advanced to experienced. An experienced yoga practice is performed with a quiet and calm mind that can balance effort and ease. It's a way to practice being gentle with ourselves because that is the foundation of all healthy relationships in life. Simply put, no relationship, even the one you have with yourself, can thrive on the aggression and force we see in these advanced yoga classes. An experienced yoga practice is about the feeling - gentle, calm, quiet and peaceful. Try to maintain that energy next time someone cuts you off and I’d say you are an advanced student. It will probably be one of the hardest things you will ever attempt.
"Stop measuring yourself on the quantity of your action, and start measuring yourself on how little you measure yourself." - Bryan Kest
This is why I choose to teach audio classes online and choose not to demonstrate poses for in-person classes. It’s not a yoga practice if your simply trying to copy the shape of someone else’s body. My classes create the space for you to be present, to trust your listening and feel more connected to your mind and body. You can try it for free right here. 😉
Thank you so much for reading to the end. Loved this pIece? Want to offer feedback? Feel free to reach out to me via email or instagram.
Namaste 🙏🏽🤎