Amrita 6: Asana through the ages - Magazine - Page 46
Interview
“Practising yoga for flexibility isn’t necessarily
a bad thing but ultimately yoga is about so
much more than this.”
single most effective way to reduce the risk of injury. Although
it is more difficult to create a
sense of community online,
online classes make yoga more
accessible to all of the students
who don’t have access to a local
studio or who can’t afford to pay
the in-person fees.
AM Have you noticed a change
in the trends/understanding of
the body in the years since you
started teaching yoga?
AM I have definitely noticed a
big movement away from the
one-size-fits-all approach. A few
years ago, there was a big focus
on detailed, very specific alignment cues but there has been a
growing understanding that everyone has a unique body and
will therefore move in a unique
way and express each yoga asana in a unique way. This is an
important and exciting shift because we are moving towards a
place where yoga is becoming
accessible to every body. This
also brings with it a shift away
from using our bodies to create
yoga asanas but rather use yoga
asanas to explore our bodies.
44 AMRITA Issue 6 / Spring 2021
AM You tackle “Yoga Fake News” on your social media pages
– do you think teachers contribute to the “yoga myths” that
circulate? What is the biggest piece of “yoga fake news”?
AM I do think that yoga teachers contribute to the yoga
myths that are out there. I’ll happily put my hands up and
say that I have contributed to these in the past too. In terms
of the biggest piece of yoga fake news, there are almost too
many to choose from! The most significant myths to me are
the ones that incorporate fear-based language, for example,
“In Warrior 2 keep your knee above your ankle to protect your
knee”. This choice of language can illicit the nocebo effect – a
negative expectation of an otherwise harmless event leading
to a negative outcome. The use of the word protect tells our
nervous system that we are in imminent danger, and even
though taking the knee beyond the ankle is a movement that
we make every time we stand up, walk, or climb a flight of
stairs, we can experience pain in Warrior 2 if we adopt this
position as a result of the negative expectation. A big focus of
mine is to encourage teachers to choose cues that are correct
rather than incorrect and fear-based. When I teach Warrior 2 I
simply say, “Traditionally we keep the knee above the ankle in
this pose” and I leave it there!
AM Do you think the importance of flexibility has been
over-prioritised in yoga, so far as to be detrimental to
strength?
“I’m a big fan of somatic movement
practices and this has really influenced
the way that I teach and practice.”
