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Pressing On
By Keith Partington
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Yoga! It’s an activity, right? A thing you do. It starts when the class starts, it ends when the class ends. Nah. We know better.
Hathayoga! In the modern West, this term has become so distorted, its edge so dulled as to nearly lose all meaning. Somehow, in gyms and health clubs especially, it’s come to be a proxy term for gentle or easy yoga. There’s not a thing wrong with either of those types of practice, but Hathayoga is about pressing on right through difficulty. Deliberately seeking what lies beyond struggle and even discomfort, endeavoring to find out how much stamina and fortitude one possesses. Why though?
Progress in this construct means you’ve pierced through obstacles that lie in the way. Tested yourself, regardless of how much technique you possess. It is traditionally known as the forceful yoga. The easier way won’t be sought. The harder way is much more compelling as you’ll learn more about you. Not you as practitioner of yoga poses, you as a spirit. You as an eternal soul.
It is easy enough to follow a style that satisfies, to put your questions to others who seam to know, to compare yourself to others and let that be your measure of progress. To spend that energy instead on self study, meditation and then rely on oneself to answer the toughest questions is very hard. It’s very hard to trust that one knows enough, that one’s greatest power and wisdom lies within already. Hathayoga presents tools to draw this out.
Join me this weekend to explore my greatest love. Master Classes- being entirely concerned with your mastery- are 9-11am both days. Advanced Education module is all weekend.
Hari Om
Keith