Yene Yoga's Philosophy
Yene Yoga promotes an inclusive philosophy drawn from ancient and modern practice, born from the belief that yoga cannot be exclusionary, harmful, or oppressive by its very nature, which is alignment with a self that encompasses all things.
Demystifying Props & Variations
All bodies are different, from our skeletal proportion and orientation to our muscular structure. This means that, in a room where everyone looks the same in a given pose, no one is actually experiencing the posture in the same way!
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Props are simply extensions of our bodies, while variations allow us to find the form of an asana that is in alignment with how we feel and how our bodies move. Both are tools that allow us to experience a given pose to the fullest and most fulfilling extent.
Myth #1: Using props makes yoga asana 'easy'
​Although props may be used to ease strain or stretch on muscles or connective tissue, props are also often used to settle deeper into our asanas or to take a more active vinyasa. If someone has proportionally shorter arms than someone else, for example, a block may be used as an 'arm extender' so that both practitioners can make contact with a surface and utilize the same muscle groups in a given pose. We can think of prop uses as creative variations to get the most out of our yoga!
Myth #2: Pose modifications are not the 'full' expression of an asana
'Alignment' in one's asana is often taken to mean adherence to a particular bodily orientation, to look a certain way. Taken in terms of satya, however, one of the 5 yamas of Patañjali's Yoga Sutras, a part of yoga is living in the truth of our experiences and needs. If we contort our bodies in ways that harm us, or in ways that prevent us from getting the full experience that an asana can bring, then we are living out of alignment with our bodies and minds. Props and postural variations allow us to find our asana ('seat') in our asana!
Myth #3: Props and variations are for 'beginners'
An individual's experience of a given asana changes not only day by day but each and every time they enter a pose. This is true both for those brand new to yoga and those who have been practicing all their lives.
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Although those new to yoga or those in recovery may wish to employ props to a greater extent, many of us have poses that feel better with a prop or in a different variation. This is the beauty of our unique bodies — our yoga will always look different from others', and that yoga will likewise look different each and every day.
Demystifying 'Control'
The word yama in the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali is often translated as 'restraint', which can invoke ideas of oppression or repression disturbing to some practitioners. Beyond this translation, though, yama implies mastery, understanding, and guidance. Just as Yama, king of the dead, sets a path for human souls to follow, our practice does not ask for a forceful repression of thought or our bodies but rather an awareness and understanding of our physical and mental responses and the ability to guide them to new places.
Myth #1: "My thoughts prevent me from meditating"
It is the nature of the mind (taijasa) to experience 'thought stuff' — the stuff of dreams and day dreams, of how we remember and interpret things in the world — as many as 60,000 times a day! Once we realize that our existence is neither contained nor controlled by the matter of the mind, then our thoughts have no power over us. Rather than fight and resist these fluctuations, it is more productive to be compassionate with our minds — to forgive the incoming thought in order to detach from it — and to consider the fullness, not the emptiness, of the self. According to Judith Lasater: "Meditation is the moment when we step back... and notice the spinning mind... and we don't try to fix it."
Myth #2: "I'm too emotional to be a yogi"
Feelings are messy. Pleasurable, painful, or both, they can be overwhelming or even debilitating, yet they allow us to connect with others and to undertake meaningful action. It is not the goal of yoga to be rid of physical and mental experiences in this plane of existence; instead, yoga teaches us that we are not limited to our emotions or physical sensations, that they do not define or control us. It also teaches us to stay with the sensations of the present movement so that stuck energy can move. Once we understand this, we can gradually act in ways that are not driven by reaction, unpack our responses, and allow ourselves to feel fully, to be compassionate with the parts of us that feel, to draw wisdom and bliss from our experiences, and to keep coming back to the mat.