Discipline Builds Strong Foundations

This is about the time of year when resolutions begin fading away. Stay strong, yogis! Stay strong, parents! Stay strong, believers! We've got this.

A disciplined yoga style gets me through tough times in a path towards a resolution or goal. If I'm feeling a little weak in my stick-to-it-iveness, a Bikram or Ashtanga class is just the dose of clear direction and discipline I need. Personally, I find these two styles of yoga to be very strict. In a Bikram class, expect every 90-minute class to take place in a heated room (Bikram rooms are generally around 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit). Every Bikram class follows the exact same set of 26 poses in the same order and for the same length of time, with built-in active rest between each pose. Bikram instructors follow a script for each pose, so you'll know what to expect after attending just a few classes. Ashtanga also follows a very strict series of poses, but it is a different series than you'll see in Bikram, and Ashtanga does not require a heated room. Ashtanga poses flow from one to the next in a nearly constant series of movements with accompanied inhales and exhales, a flowing yoga style often referred to as Vinyasa that links movement to breath.

Both Bikram and Ashtanga follow very strict pose sequences, and both demand a great amount of discipline, but there is a key difference between the kind of discipline required in these practices: Bikram's practice focuses on the discipline of endurance, whereas the Ashtanga style emphasizes the discipline of mastery. In most Bikram classes in America, yogis can stop and rest quietly at any time, then pick up wherever the class is once they feel ready. Many Bikram instructors will tell new students that the goal of their first class is simply to stay in the room for the entire 90 minutes, even if that means sitting out half of the poses. In a traditional Ashtanga practice, a yogi must master each pose in the series before moving on to the next. If a yogi sits out a pose, that's the end of the series entirely for that student in that session. I've completed plenty of 30-day Bikram challenges (get the most out of those monthly memberships!) and have even done 60 consecutive days of Bikram classes (yoga was my social life in my twenties), but I've not progressed through the entire Ashtanga series flawlessly. And I've been practicing yoga for nearly twenty years! I've always had the athletic endurance to get through a tough Bikram class, but Ashtanga requires a completely different kind of discipline, one that I'm still working to master.

If Ashtanga is so difficult, can a beginner yogi try it? YES! As your strength and flexibility improve, you'll move through each pose with more ease. The practice begins with sun salutations and builds up to more advanced poses. As you advance to each pose, your strength and confidence will grow in every pose leading to it, establishing a strong foundation. It's a foundation I'm still working to build, but the super-strong Bikram foundation I built years ago has helped get me through the tougher parts of the Ashtanga series in this phase of my yoga journey.

Discipline builds strong foundations. It reminds me of Hebrews 12:11, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Yogis, please don't take the word "painful" literally in this verse--If any pose is painful, you should stop immediately and consult with your instructor and a physician before going further in that pose or series. As someone who hasn't mastered the full Ashtanga series yet, I can tell you there are times when reaching the end of my personal ability in the series is painful to my ego. The yoga itself is pleasant, but coming to that pose that I still haven't mastered is humbling. It takes discipline to come back and try it again day after day and class after class, but every attempt makes me stronger along the way.

That's something I love about yoga and faith: We can always grow more, master more, become better, become stronger. I'm not at all deterred by not having mastered the entire Ashtanga series yet--maybe that's a resolution for another year. Instead, I'm grateful to have such a strict style of yoga in my personal toolbox, and I turn to this practice when I need a little built-in discipline, or if I'm feeling like I want to dedicate some time to strengthening my foundation as a yogi.