Yielding in Yoga practice
Yielding can be roughly defined as actively and consciously giving weight to the ground, trusting in order to receive support. To allow whatever is flowing naturally to happen, without resisting. It is the internal support that maintains integrity to the spine and internal organs and allows for the freedom of the breath. It is the trust and faith one develops mentally and emotionally. A smooth flow of unobstructed calmness in breath, body and mind that helps us become one with our environment. When we yield, we are adaptable in our bodies, thoughts and speech: firm but able to bend without breaking. We respond adequately to any situation, be it in our everyday life or in a Yoga practice. It is often the relationship or action-reaction forces in the world that allow space for yielding. For example, if we want to jump, we first need to bend slightly our knees and bring the hips down, only to straighten up the body afterwards and go into the full jump, the so called momentum. Nothing is actually random and left to chance. The same as in the yielding, it is a way of interacting with the environment and not only surrender to it, the way we are actively meeting a given moment.
In the animal world, we see many examples of animals yielding in their natural habitat and environment, such as monkeys, koalas or felines, leaning in fully and trusting the trees and the Earth itself. The body and thus the whole Being becomes supported and held, perfectly in tune with the environment.
By actively working with our breath and posture in Yoga we may start to notice our tendency to either collapse or, in other words, give weight to the ground passively or to force ourselves to stay upright or to prop ourselves. Think about these tendencies mirrored in our everyday lives and behaviours. The ego-driven overachievers and the melancholic underachievers. One is taking in more than necessary, the other not taking in enough. One appears hard and light while the other soft and heavy. One is overcompensating, the other has given up before trying. One tendency is inhalation dominant, the other exhalation dominant. One inflates the chest, the ribcage, displaying confidence and control. The other, sinks in the direction of the heart, closes into a stance of defence and protection. Both obstruct our range of motion in the long term and are limiting our physical capacity. We all swing from one to the other to certain degrees and in various areas of the body. Our professions and habits play a major role into these tendencies, for example the collapsing of the chest or rounded shoulders as a clear effect of a job at the computer or playing daily a musical instrument.
As Yoga teachers, we can observe these tendencies and postures in our students and try to work with what we have, without judgement and without rushing since we are not always aware of the reason or stories behind these tendencies and maybe the students themselves are not prepared to face them at that particular point. Maybe a fear of fully expressing oneself, of feeling supported or encouraged, maybe trauma of some kind. Maybe the profession itself or an accident or injury that happened in the past, but left its mark on the body. Whatever it could be, it is something that can be worked on and changed in time, but only if work is done both ways, from the teacher and the student and if it is something that develops in time and with patience and care.
Experimenting with yielding can be as simple as finding some more basic or key postures in your Yoga practice, for example Marjariasana (Cat-Cow pose), Downward Dog or even Shavasana and starting playing with the feeling of grounding and awareness in the body, bringing together these polarities and understanding how each pose is a process and not a fixed position. How is your relationship to the ground, are you collapsing your body in any area or are you propping up more? What parts of your body are touching the ground? How are your arms feeling, your legs, your core, in relation to the Earth? Where is your breath located mostly? And then, in time, see if you can transfer this into your time off the mat, simply living the daily life with a bit more ease. Not carrying the world on your shoulders (literally!), nor act in a disinterested way, but rather finding the right middle way in which one can live balanced and fulfilled. The grounding connection to the Earth allows us also to move forward safely and with stability, inviting both tendencies or forces into play with moderation. And then we will start feeling the responsiveness and resilience of the Earth itself. We don't want to harm or injure ourselves by propping too much, but also we don't want to give up and shrink away from achieving our full potential.
Finding this neutrality of being, this middle path - yielding gives tremendous benefits for a long-lasting agility and mobility of the body, as well as deep awareness of our possibilities, range of motion and limitations. Acquiring this feeling of being held and suported, grounded yet light at the same time. And last but not least, finding a better connection to our core and spine as well as to our daily breathing patterns. The breath becomes the linking force between active and passive, doing and not-doing, control and letting go, pushing and surrendering.
***************************************************************
