What Does It Mean To Be Advanced In Your Yoga Practice
And Does It Even Matter?
I had an interesting experience the other day, taking a yoga class at a studio I also teach at. I found that as the only yoga teacher (to my knowledge) in the room, I was doing the least advanced poses throughout the class. I noticed that when options were offered to deepen or advance the pose, they were often taken by most students. I find this so interesting because it seems like the general assumption is that being an advanced practitioner means doing the most advanced poses.
I disagree, and want to offer a different perspective.
Yoga began not with postures, but with sitting and meditating. Asana is traditionally translated as a seat for meditation. It can be also be translated as “I sit facing” or in other words,
“What comes up for me when I am here, and now here, etc”
“How do I respond in situations that ask me to show up?”
“How am I showing up?”
As yoga has been integrated into the Western world it’s taken on many new variations, ie. drunk yoga and goat yoga to name a couple, and has also become very centralized around the physical aspect of the practice. This can make the definition or approach to yoga confusing, especially for new practitioners who aren’t sure how they’d like to get involved with yoga, what yoga is, or what they’re looking to connect to when they practice.
I think that unfortunately the element of meditation, the less tangible part of a yoga practice, is missing from too many classes and yoga teachings, in sacrifice for the external appearance of the practice, or perhaps a sense of conquering the class sequence, pushing through to the end, or being the most “advanced” student in class.
In the classes I teach, I integrate an element of meditation even when the majority of the class is a vinyasa flow. I believe that when students are moving through a physical practice; strengthening their bodies, exploring movement, deepening their flexibility, etc. that it’s important to come back and return to simple sitting and breathing and being with themselves.
(Ironically, a physical yoga practice can even become a distraction from ourselves, especially if the class is faster or more challenging.)
But the less tangible aspect of a yoga practice? When we’re sitting for meditation and not doing…? Thoughts will likely distract you, or maybe an itch, or discomfort in a posture, but I think gradually you’ll occasionally land at a glimpse of you. And that can be a scary place to land.
It’s no longer an outward focus but a subtle inward glance at who is showing up, and how you respond to you. This may feel like a different practice altogether from a wide legged forward fold or a side plank but the poses are actually acting similarly to a seated meditation- simply inviting you to see what shows up.
What does “advanced” mean and does it even matter?
This is likely to be interpreted differently by different people but from my perspective, an advanced practitioner means becoming aware of how you are showing up moment-to-moment, on and off of your yoga mat.
Emily Sussell, yoga teacher, mentor, and founder of Private Yoga Brooklyn says that “Becoming advanced as a yoga practitioner means developing a heightened awareness of the subtle.”
Someone may have a 25 year meditation practice and be advanced even if you can’t immediately see it. And vice versa- you may see someone doing a split, a headstand, and holding a mudra simultaneously but perhaps they are totally disconnected from their breath, are not at all at ease, or perhaps even forcing their bodies into the shape to the point of injury.
In terms of practicing on the mat, I think it means developing awareness to know when to stay, when to deepen, when to back off, when to take a different pose altogether, when to take a different pace, simply focus on the breath, and overall just realizing the intention from which you’re proceeding.
I also think when someone is advanced, their practice shows up and influences how they choose to navigate situations when they step off of the yoga mat as well. The practice holds the potential to give us information and insight about ourselves, which we can choose to take with us when we leave our mats, our studios, or our classes.
Yoga class is not a competition, it’s a PRACTICE, ongoing and very much your own. Knowing your “level” can be helpful when you’re deciding the type of class to take so that you are in a class that is able to meet you most effectively, but other than that, what does it matter if you can say you’re advanced? At the end of the day, your practice is a conversation between you and you.
It’s both a connection and total detachment, knowing even as you move through yoga poses, that you are not only your body, knowing that even as you breath, you are not only your breath, and as you move through class, that the sequence will end but the practice continues, as you continue to show up in all the ways you do.
Natalie Mazur is a bilingual (English/Spanish) yoga instructor based in San Diego, California. She teaches private clients in their homes and offers weekly group classes. Natalie has nine years of study and teaching experience combined, and has taught in the U.S. and internationally.
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