Is your practice lacking depth?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about depth of practice, and how the piecemeal approach to yoga that we’ve perpetuated in the west is a disservice to the enormous power of this practice.

The most common way of practicing yoga in the west is to attend group classes at a local yoga studio, on whichever nights you can fit it into your schedule, with whatever teacher happens to be teaching that evening, and only sporadically at that. This method of practice lacks commitment, consistency, and most importantly depth.

Group classes, at best, offer only a small glimpse into the depth of the yogic philosophy, and often only via random quotes and blurbs, seldom offering any real ways to incoporate the philosophy into your life off of the mat. And even then, the philosophy is served up in a way that is meant to appeal to our western sensibilities, and often stripped of its eastern roots. It’s meant to make us feel good, rather than do the hard work of looking into ourselves to see what we might encounter. It’s made to fit into our narrow, predominantly Christian view of spirituality, and minimizes the more expansive view of spirituality that yoga is rooted in.

At worst, group classes are treated no differently than any other exercise class offered at your local gym - let’s get in the room, work hard, sweat, and call it a day.

Yoga has the vast potential to meet the challenges of our time; inviting us into relationship with ourself, which in turn strengthens our relationship to everything around us. Yoga has the potential to address our environmental crisis, our increasing lack of humanity toward our fellow beings, our extremism, our opinionism, our individualism. But the yoga only works when we practice it as a complete system, a lifestyle, a worldview.

As a teacher of group classes, I do my best to teach the deeper aspects of yoga in a systematic way, and give the students that practice with me tools to apply yoga to their lives outside of the studio. But given the constraints of a 75-90 minute class, true depth and understanding is also lacking. And, teaching philosophy in a systematic way only really works for the students that have commited to attending class regularly. When you only drop in occasionally, only when it’s convenient, you’re getting only a small piece of the full picture.

Yoga requires dedication to unlock its full potential. Yoga is most beneficial both to us individually, and also to the collective when we dedicate ourselves to it wholeheartedly. As Swami Satchidananda says, we have to dig our well deep, and a deep well takes consistency, time, and effort. Our “take the easy way out”, “quick-fix”, instant gratification culture has us digging tiny holes everywhere looking for healing, purpose, and joy in a million different places, in the latest new “miracle drug”, in more and more stuff. When the real miracle, the real magic is in dedicating yourself a path.

“There’s no value in digging shallow wells in a hundred places. Decide on one place and dig deep. Even if you encounter a rock, use dynamite and keep going down. If you leave that to dig another well, all the first effort is wasted and there is no proof you won’t hit rock again.” ~Swami Satchidananda

So, how do you get depth in your practice when our system is predicated on width?

The first, and easiest way to add more depth to your practice is to get committed. Find a teacher that knows, understands, share, and practices yoga as a lifestyle and go to their classes consistently and regularly. If they are teaching, even group classes, in a skillful way you will find that you are learning more about yoga philosophy and gaining tools to apply it to your life. You’ll find yourself recalling what your teacher said at moments throughout your day. You’ll notice that concepts and ideas are starting to come together and make sense in a cohesive way.

Another great way to deepen your practice is to ask your teacher for recommendations on texts to read, and commit to self study. Of course, the concepts of yoga are often esoteric, and require some unpacking by a teacher, but starting to familiarize yourself with yoga’s important concepts will bring a depth to your practice that you didn’t have before.

Finding teacher trainings, workshops, and special programs with teachers you find knowledgeable is another great way to take your study and practice of yoga deeper, even if you never intend to teach a yoga class.

And finally, find a teacher you can work one-on-one with in a systematic way to incorporate the teachings of yoga into your day to day life.