Up Against the Wall, Hot Yogi

Have you hit a wall in hot yoga?

How will you get to the other side?

There is a particular volatile variety of hot yoga practitioners who prepare for the Yoga Asana Championships by joining what is unofficially called, The Backbending Club.

These backbenders not only do 2 or more hot yoga classes daily, they engage in the practice of Wall Walking: bending over backwards walking their hands down the wall until their faces hit the ground between their feet. The pain is intense, for hours on end, as much as 60 times a day.

What's the agonizing point?

For the wall walkers, pain is the point; to push themselves through the spasms and seizures that result from extreme backbending, and arrive at a singularly focused moment when all else disappears and are witness to a moment of their own limitlessness.

Is pushing against an obstacle the only way to break through?

The Buddhists say that if you are lucky, you get a wake up call - a moment when you start your life on a track that gets you enlightened - and oftentimes that awakening is the result of a trauma.

But Abraham, the wisdom behind Abraham-Hicks, disagrees. Their wisdom is summarized by this phrase: life is about joy, the result is expansion and the purpose is freedom, for yourself and for everyone around you.

Does your joy have more power than your struggle?

I resonate with Abraham. It never seemed to make sense that life was a striving to learn lessons, to perfect yourself over and over and go back to wherever you came from as a more polished model; that makes life seem like an endless task (maybe that's where the unending To Do List originated). 

It seems more logical that we are all here to contribute who we already are. Whenever I see someone being completely authentic, opening up without fear of judgement,  I hear another wall crumble whether its a wall separating people or one within myself.

Happiness itself is an expanded state; struggle is contraction.

Our physical universe exists by constantly expanding; if it stopped expanding it would implode upon itself.

Your body, as a microcosm of the universe, also responds to expansion. When you feel good, your body opens and moves in yoga. When you struggle, your poses suffer as your muscles contract against the coldness of your own attitude.

And yet....what of the Backbender who cured himself of rhematoid arthritis, a particularly virulent and "incurable" disaeas that eats away the cushions between your bones until the slightest movement is excruciating?

Another Backbender kicked a heroin and methadone habit by wall walking. The woman who started Beckbending Club brought herself all the way back from a motorcyle mishap that left her wheelchair bound. Imagine the pain of that struggle.

Somehow I think there must have been more than a little bit of joy in the experience of transcending limits others had placed on these people, that joyful certainty can propel you to a state of fulfillment well past pain.

You don't have to go to extremes to get the benefits of hot yoga.

Venture beyond your old limited beliefs, one step at a time. Open your mind, open your heart, open your ears and follow the instructions of that wonderful Sherpa who has consented to be your guide to your edge today: your hot yoga teacher.

How far will hot yoga take you? That depends on where you want to go.

It's always your journey. Relax, explore and yes, introduce a challenge. Not one so easily attainable; not one so difficult that its labeled unachievable in your mind.

In each hot yoga class, be present for the bumps and jolts along the way. Ride them out. Life is full of these.

And sometimes, instead of pushing against the wall, try approaching it with a persistent, encouraging nudge: "Yes, I can. No matter what."

When you are up against it, breaking through the wall is one way. Scaling a wall can be just as effective. And sometimes, walking around it - the path of least resistance - is powerfully possible.

Comments

[Mary-Rush]

Huh--pain seems to be in the air lately--in terms of topics, that is! Maybe it's because it's winter, when pre-existing injuries somehow feel worse and each day is full of so many more limitations to be overcome--cold, snow, layers upon layers of clothes, so many potential excuses to keep you from taking care of yourself until the world warms up again.

What I love about hot yoga in the winter is that, perhaps counterintuitively, it feels so oddly "gentle" when compared to the punishments of driving in this weather, or just taking a quick walk outside. And yet it makes you feel like you can do anything, so when you do get back outside, the challenges of winter don't seem so daunting.

Thanks for the continued inspiration!