This blog started as an instagram post in the genre of “unpopular opinion”, the sort of post that serves well by getting rid of followers who do not REALLY relate to one's work, and potentially finding more of those who are curious and perhaps relate to what I want to share.

I want to simply clarify that I am not arguing to change personal opinion, but for teachers to reflect on what they say to class. These 5 points are often shared as if they are yoga teachings or "spiritual truths" which we might say in complete kindness, trying to bring reassurance and ease. But I find them problematic, and it is not always obvious why. Especially when we live in an echo chamber of others sharing the same sentiments. 

I believe we can respect the yoga tradition and be scientific. We can be both "spiritual" and down to earth! 

We often want to stand out as a yoga teacher - to be exceptional. But in social media, that can also be scary. But the only way to be memorable is to be authentic & dare to express what we feel or believe. Even at the risk of being unpopular. So if I upset anyone with this I apologise for your upset, it's a personal opinion piece and I am hoping to help create more ease.

Those of you interested in the social media angle - yes this sort of post can lose you followers. But it can also gain newsletter readers who want to hear more (welcome!). We are much better off having a smaller, more engaged following than lots of disinterested "followers". 

5 concepts I find nonsensical or shaming & here’s why…

1. You manifest your own reality

This sounds a lot like unacknowledged privilege to me. I could manifest an idyllic life in Bali because my country is allowed access to the visa, I have the money to buy the flight and some lovely living quarters, the I-phone to document it all and all the privileges that have made it relatively easy to have people to show it off to!

If manifesting is so easy I imagine we would see air balloons beautifully skitting across the Chanel from France to the UK or out of Gaza, instead of news of drowning and horror. For some people (usually black/brown), freedom of movement is not allowed. For others, even freedom of thought is not allowed. Personal “manifestation” would require systemic changes.

Yoga describes how our perception shapes our reality. How our perception is flawed. We can work to overcome our inherent ignorance - avidya. The second Pada (chapter) of the Patanjali sutras describes this in some detail. Avidya is the underlying Klesha or obstacle to our ultimate liberation. Yoga is the path of practice we tread to train the mind to see more clearly.

But this has nothing to do with manifestation and everything to do with continued & consistent practice. Yes there are certain “Siddhis” or powers described in yoga - but I don’t think those who do the “manifesting” are talking about this. But there is also a lot of practical advice, like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (1425, Swatwarama), which advises us to live in a peaceful country to practice yoga. So that we can make progress undisturbed.

We sometimes need the vision of what is possible to attain that thing, but it is not guaranteed! Personally, I believe we can enjoy the sense of a benevolent power beyond our comprehension, without needing to shame others with their inability to manifest. While also acknowledging that the parameters of our vision are usually shaped by privilege or lack of.

 

2. Everything happens for a reason

IF you believe in a Supreme, Higher, Creator Being- a God/dess, then this idea of “everything happens for a reason” makes sense. It is somehow, somewhere the sense of a God - even though standing on earth as a human it is in comprehensible. We hold fast, comfort, and ourselves in our connection to our God.

BUT if we do NOT believe in a God then who's sense is it, on this mortal level - that we destroy the planet, that children are murdered and exploited?

I find nothing more moving or humbling that those with incredible faith who believe in an Ultimate, Supreme being. I have been inspired time and time again by those who in the face of incredible loss, surrender to their God - something we see everyday in those horrific images of genocide in Gaza right now. The children invoking the will of Allah and bowing down to the knowledge that somehow, it is Allah’s will. Unfathomable in the moment but Allah’s will nonetheless. (please forgive me if I I mis-speak as a non-muslim from my perspective this is what I think I see).

Yoga - as a vast collection of ideas and practices over millennia, describes MANY different approaches and ideas of God. From atheism to pantheism, monism, animism (God is in everything in nature), Gods & Goddesses "with form" (gunas) - ie physical attributes or without form ie as consciousness; as well as humans who attain higher consciousness. There are also a few different creation myths. Ideally we do not "pick and choose" but rather we can decipher which approach suits us and devote ourselves to that. (There's a lot more to say here another time)

Patanjali describes Ishvara - a God with specific forms who remains separate from human perception. A God we can come closer to with the chanting of Om. There is a level of consciousness or samadhi, separate from our every day reality and our work is to attain this. 

On the other hand we have the tantra tradition best known through Kashmir Shaivism, which describes a seamless reality, beyond duality where human consciousness is limited by perception alone. Here our work is to gradually unseal the limitations of our vision to perceive the ultimate nature of reality. A radical shift in consciousness which is the design of yoga/ tantra.

Here there is no one ultimate overseer, no creator being, no-one to make things happen for a reason.

SO we can choose which path of yoga we follow. But if we choose one without an overseeing God, it simply does not make sense to say “everything happens for a reason”, because these two statements are entirely contradictory - Aren't they? "Reason" indicates a "reasoner", a thinker who decided what should happen. 

Again similar like the "manifestation" story, it can suit us well to think theres reason to us having a lovely house etc. But perhaps less so if it all got torn away. 

I think the saying might have come from concept of karma, but it's not the same thing! Karma is easiest to understand as cause and effect - sow millet you will harvest millet. Sow oats and you get oats.

3. The need to "open the heart"

 Humans are complex, sensitive, tender beings. When we experience grief, which a lot of yoga ideas are founded on easing, we need ways to hold it together - especially in a public class. Talk of opening up the heart and release is not always helpful! If you are grieving, if you have experienced some sort of loss, if you have some trauma (as we mostly do), you might need a class that does not insist on exposing everything!

Suggesting someone is more closed because their back is stiff (an idea I have flirted with in the past - full confession), is deeply shaming and not something I have seen in yoga texts.

I do not think traditional Yoga texts state this anywhere, we have yogic attainment and beauty related to each other eg in the Gita or Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

Yes when we are broken hearted we feel more turned inwards. There are modern teachings which describe how our form is shaped by our perception of reality and emotional experience (Anodea Judith for example). But to state this as a fact is oversimplifying things.

4. We need to “release” anger to attain some sort of calm

I believe the need to always be calm is overstated. A Buddha can be more calm because they have understood the ultimate nature of reality. They see the long time line of higher consciousness.

When I was in trauma therapy, I was told to get more angry! It didn’t go that well I became so enraged I started throwing things around. But the point is, we sometimes need to connect to our anger, especially if like me and SO many others, you have been abused as a child.

The nervous system research and polyvagal theory describe that we need to go from a freeze/ immobilisation state THROUGH mobilisation ie sympathetic activity which as you know is the FIGHT or flight state in order to reach equilibrium. So if we insist on everything being gentle and soft and imply or state that we should release anger rather than expressing it, we prevent the exact path to healing that yoga can make possible.  

5. Holding trauma in the hips or pelvis

I do not mean to undermine anyone who does experience tension in the hips and believe this relates to their past experiences. I am simply asking that as teachers we do not TELL everyone that their hips are holding their past traumas. 

I have experienced first hand how disturbing this is - for myself and also in women who come to me for trauma yoga 1-2-1s. Many of us who have been abused or humiliated (for being women, non-hetero/ non-conforming sexuality) compound our sense of shame with this belief. The sense of shame becomes overwhelming as we start to believe the trauma is in our cells, in our tissues, and whatever we do we can’t change it. It is deeply disempowering and disturbing.

If we instead feel there is tension in the hips for good reason, because our hips, our glutes need the power to propel us forward when we walk. Our pelvic floor need to be able to hold our organs in. Then we have a totally different message - that we are strong, we are powerful.

In my trauma sensitive teaching, I focus on SEPARATING the elements and layers of distress and normalising it. We separate the present experience of the body, from the traumatic experience of the past:

I have a pain or a tension in my hip - this is actually very common - pelvic floor issues affect approximately 25% of women.

Separate from this: I experienced some abuse or some shaming for my sexuality.

When we separate our bodies from the abuse we can reclaim our bodies, our lives, our minds, our autonomy. But if we forever tell women & any others that the abuse is stuck in their most tender, intimate tissues we add to the sense of disturbance. The sense there is something wrong with them and that we can all see this in their postures.

We can externalise the shame and the grief and access our rage without needing to turn it against ourselves.

From an anatomical perspective, relating emotion and flexibility does not make sense. There are SO many factors affecting mobility - both anatomical and in terms of the collagen structure, which affects our muscles and fascia and characterises the many types of hypermobility.

For example, the structure of the hip joints and pelvis, some are born with hip dysplasia or hips that they need to work to stabilise, but that nonetheless might remain so “open” throughout their lives, even if they do experience trauma, the hips will not suddenly look “tight”.

Tension in the body is not a function of the muscles, it is a condition of the nervous system. We simply cannot talk about the body without referring to the nervous system which manages the body. Without the nervous system the body is inert!

The nervous system does not send trauma to specific muscles. Yes we might have a habitual pattern of hypertonicity (excess tension). BUT stretching alone is not the way to redress that. Working with the nervous system is.

Yoga is SO phenomenal in so many ways to help to redress imbalances in the nervous system state or to expand "the window of tolerance". Yoga can be so incredible in helping us to process emotional distress and trauma when we feel empowered to be ourselves, when we feel accepted.  

These things are complex. We are complex, wonderful, tender, intelligent beings. Let’s try to find ways to talk to each other and our students which does not have us hating our hips, our bodies, our sexuality, our tender hearts or our minds.

I will follow this up with some of the various branches that are entangled here - how DO we share a more trauma informed approach.

Study with me:

Finding your voice and writing your truth, are a part of the Authentic Yoga Marketing course. 

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