Yoga Postural Integration

Practicing yoga is an incredible way to become more aware of the emotional and physical body.  Our bodies are a marvel, made up of complex systems that are eagerly waiting for us to understand them. When I first started a yoga practice over two decades ago, I was in a lot of pain after being diagnosed with five lower back bulging disks.  The focus on physical alignment was important back then. It still feels as important; however, the postures, just on their own have taken a backseat to the subtle energies within a yoga practice.

In 1999, I took my first teacher training and it gave me a wonderful foundation that I still incorporate in my classes today, such as a balance of yogic postural alignment with inner body awareness. After around 18 years as a yoga teacher, I began to connect to the understanding that we are not just ‘like’ nature —we are, or have, Mother Gaia inside us too.  When we are in alignment with the nature inside of us, our true (outer) alignment can change depending on the day. When we merge with this kind of inner cosmic flow, we might find that our practice is much more fluid too.

Our ‘true nature’ is not one particular alignment or posture, nor is it a one-size-all approach. As I began to sit with this idea, I realised that, up until now, my postural yoga practice had been based on a more scientific and methodical approach. I began to understand there is a place for both a deep knowledge of the alignment of each posture and to have grace for the individual’s own inner guidance. Now with either the student or teaching hat on, I find myself responding to poses with a deeper clarity, to truly meet my own being, and the student, in the moment. These many colours that make up our spirit, and human scaffolding, merge so sweetly with this non-dualistic approach to yoga.

While there are many different ways to practice yoga, a more gentle approach breeds an openness that allows us to develop more awareness within. True alignment just might be in appreciating what our body is giving us (in the moment) and less about being focused on the exact alignment itself. Essentially, we are making our practice safer by listening to what our body needs. Our practice then becomes a friendly exchange of inner-body awareness and outer-body flow.

By appreciating nature, we can love and feel that energy within us too, where we see nature flourish alongside us, like partners in our collective existence. We only need to take a look outside to see the wondrous examples of nature and apply them to our own inner life. Examine the stillness and flexibility of a coconut tree and how it can hold steady, yet in the midst of a storm, it bends and rides the wave of change that is given to it. We can apply this to our own storm of emotions that can rise up without notice. In our practice, we can ease into the postures that might be most healing to withstand the storm. This helps us to develop awareness inside of the postural practice, where one’s own specific alignment becomes clear and opens a path for self-understanding.

It is still important to have a base knowledge of postural yoga, especially if the practitioner has any injuries or ailments. A skilled yoga teacher can look at the student’s pose and assess where the student might be holding blockages, or where there is tightness. This, along with our own inner postural awareness, can take our yoga practice to the next level and yoke it all together: mind, body and soul.

In allowing for this new perspective in our yoga practice, we focus on the posture as a whole and we can feel our subtle energies and any emotions that are present. What we don’t need or isn’t serving us falls away on its own. From this place, we might ask our self, what can I do less of, and what is available to me in order to receive the gifts that are already present within.