Non-yogis have a black-and-white perception of yoga. They either love the idea of it, or hate it. But here’s the common denominator: anyone who steps on the mat for the first time, discovers that yoga isn’t all that relaxing or easy … not in the beginning.
All practitioners take time to settle into the practice. What this means is that no one enjoys yoga from the word go. There’s a common misperception that the calming effects of Yoga come into play the moment you step on the mat. This inadvertently discourages many first times who go to a Yoga class thinking that it will be as relaxing as a massage.
Learning a new way to move, to breathe and to connect with the present moment is no easy feat, and happens only with time and practice. Yoga is akin to going to the gym. No beginner will breeze through ten minutes on the treadmill, or twenty bicep curls on the very first day. You have to prepare your body, and build strength. It works exactly the same way for the mind. It’s only with practice that you learn to calm the “monkey mind”. At first, it may seem either too difficult or too easy, depending on the preconceived notions you had of yoga. But it’s important to remember that it takes time for the practice to move you in ways it is meant to.
My first ever yoga class was an intermediate level Vinyasa Flow class, which I accidentally walked into, thinking it was a beginner level class. The teacher was an enviably fit 50-something woman clad in Adidas track pants and tank top. She made jokes while instructing, and had a playlist of instrumental jazz. Within the first ten minutes, the stereotype that I had of yoga teachers was debunked. Four years and countless teachers later, I have come to realise that there is no particular way a yoga practitioner is supposed to be. Some are more spiritual than others; some like a static practice and some like a flow-based practice; some like to play kirtans while some practice to jazz. Similarly, there’s not one way that a student is supposed to be.
I sailed through my first class. I realised that as a trained dancer, I had already been practicing many of the asanas. But three months later, as I bawled my eyes out during pranayama, I realised that yoga was working its magic on my mind, which was what I needed. Nonetheless, those fifteen minutes of waterworks were the most difficult fifteen minutes of my life. It took all of me to not get up and leave. But, I stayed. I sat through the tears and the sobs, and with time, I realised that with the tears, a heavy weight from inside me had also been released. That was obviously the result of three months of regular practice, which culminated in the way that it did.
Since then, my relationship with yoga has ebbed and flowed. I have gone through phases when stepping on the mat has seemed like the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do, and phases where I’ve given up everything in order to spend just thirty minutes on my mat. I have come to realise that the practice isn’t always easy, but what it does is that it makes everything else easy for you. You become more patient, forgiving, relaxed and loving toward others and yourself. And this keeps bringing you back to the mat.
