The Yogi
or yogic life
The world of social media has been both amazing and harmful for my yoga practice. I love watching yoga videos, listening to little nit bits about what yoga means beyond the mat, how yoga can be inclusive for all body types, the instructions, corrections, self-practices, and the mistakes people make to show how we are all human. It makes me feel good. I am not perfect. I am a yoga teacher but I am also still just a student. I keep learning and teaching what I know - from my courses, resources and reading, social media and self-practice. Sometimes also through gut feelings.
The social media is also interesting in bringing out conversations about cultural appropriation, the use of namaste in class, the importance of the sanskrit names of the asanas and other more nuances of yoga.
The one thing that divides and scares me is the ‘being yogi’ image. A lot of people talk about a complete yogic lifestyle. You see them posting pictures of fancy vegan food, pictures of them journaling, doing cleansing kriyas, posting pictures of themselves meditating, wearing certain types of clothing, etc etc etc. The list is absolutely too long. I have for very long aspired to the yogic image. I became a vegetarian for 6 years because of that. I started journaling because it was a cool thing to do (now I swear by its coolness!!). I wanted my wardrobe to be all linen and cotton clothing. I wanted to lose weight but to look cool and like a true yogi.
When I started practising and learning yoga in its actual essence, the need for having a yogic image kind of reduced. I mean, I still aspire to do the kriyas regularly, which I don’t. I still want to be able to do fancy poses at any time of the day, which I can’t. I am no longer a vegetarian (I will write about it sometime). I am not Zen and positive all the time. I have surely not become the slim yogi you see on social media. But I think reality struck me in many ways.
Firstly, yoga is beyond the image of what you can see. Am I the calm woman who just meditates and says, “Yoga will fix everything.” NO! I am not. There are things that yoga will help aid in. Yoga can definitely make you very mindful to be able to notice the real problems within you - but nothing will get fixed with yoga. If someone tells you that, I think they are using it as a marketing gimmick.
Secondly, I think while yoga is a process of spirituality, I was already in the path of mindfulness before I started practicing yoga. Inner work, mindfulness, and breathwork are all goals and benefits that you reap from practicing yoga. Physically on the mat and beyond the mat. But that does not mean you’re not human and you won’t get affected by anything that happens in your environment. If a yogi was so Zen, they’d be all Buddha right now!
So well, this is me just fighting my own aspiration to look yogi and yet being mindful of the fact that leading a yogic lifestyle is beyond what we see and what social media shows us. Beyond this fancy Chakrasana you see.