Sh*&t I Didn't Know Before My Yoga Therapy Training
Yoga therapy training turned out to be life training.
When I started yoga training in May 2019, I was in a rough place and needed a change in my life. I thought yoga was mainly a physical endeavor, and I had been practicing that way for years and loved it.
Looking for a new direction and potential career, I Googled careers in yoga and stumbled upon yoga therapy. Surprised, I stared at the search results and thought, "Yoga therapy is a thing?" I enrolled in a school days later.
At that point, I knew very little about the nervous system, about ways to handle my thoughts and emotions beyond letting them consume me. I lumped spiritualism with organized religion and wasn't into either.
Fortunately, yoga therapy training became life training and the compass I desperately needed. Maybe I was just behind in becoming a well-rounded adult, but much of what I learned changed my life and perspective.
What I didn't know about Emotions
As part of my training, we were given a recommended reading list. One of the books was Jack Kornfield's "A Path with Heart." From that book, which provides the Buddhist perspective, I learned that I could distance myself from my emotions in a healthy way. I could observe and name them without identifying with them and, as a result, watch them naturally diminish. I read the book, almost incredulous, that observing them without judgment was something one could do. While reading, I thought, "Everyone should get this book."
I also did know that emotions such as anger and sadness weren't "bad" and, again, didn't need to be avoided at all costs. Or that when these emotions come up, something isn't wrong with me. Reading Kornfield's advice on handling big emotions was a revelation.
What I didn't know about thoughts
Simply, I didn't know that my thoughts weren't true. I had no idea I could separate the inner me from all my swirling thoughts. I believed everything I thought was true and did not know that questioning my thoughts was something I could do.
The traditional path of yoga is to achieve a stilling or quieting of the thinking mind to access our deepest, most authentic inner self. "Yogas citta vritti nirodhah" is sutra two of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the important book of aphorisms that outlines the path of yoga written between 500 BC and 300 AD. It translates to "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind." That one line sums up the path. I did not know this was even a possibility.
What I didn't know about the nervous system
I knew what "fight and flight" meant broadly and, on some level, that there was a more restful side of the nervous system. But those very general concepts were all I understood. I did not know that the body doesn't recognize an actual threat from an irrational one (an angry email versus a bear, for example). I did not realize that although the nervous system is "autonomic," there are ways to work with it and guide it consciously back to calm - mainly via the breath. I also didn't know there was an optimal way to breathe, and as it turns out, I was not breathing in this ideal way, but in reverse - aptly called reverse breathing. Changing this alone was huge for me. I wrote a newsletter about that HERE.
What I didn't know about spirituality
I lumped being spiritual and believing in a higher power, or at least something bigger, under organized religion. I'm agnostic, and not only do I not ascribe to religion, I feel repelled by it. I didn't understand that believing in something more significant than our human form, feeling connected to this greater something and all of humanity - is powerfully healing. Humans thrive and need connection; this is a fact of our biology. Addiction and mental illness thrive in disconnection.
Another concept in the Yoga Sutras, considered central to spirituality, is Isvara Pranidhana, surrendering to a supreme being. This could be characterized as God, nature, or the universe. Isvara Pranidhana means accepting reality as it is. Not accidentally, feeling a connection to a higher power makes surrender easier to grasp and practice—concepts that have also changed my life that don’t require believing in a God characterized as a man in the sky casting judgment down on inherently flawed humans.
Learning these new skills and concepts has not made me a perfect person. Within the yoga tradition, calling oneself a yogi is a big deal, and the standards are high to get there. I am not a yogi; I'm only a yoga student and always will be—even if I can call myself a yoga teacher and yoga therapist.
I have also learned that life is complicated and ever-changing, and a good dose of humility should accompany any sense of accomplishment or enlightenment. However, the biggest lesson I have learned through yoga is that many tools are available to help us live better and more peacefully.