Is it good yoga practice to push yourself harder?
Asked by
Idear (
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April 17th, 2013
When doing yoga, is it good yoga practice to push your body beyond the limit you think you can go? In regular exercise, you always try to go that extra mile. Is it the same with yoga?
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6 Answers
Not in Hatha yoga. The movements are supposed to be gentle and steady.
Through repeated practice, one will find that they are able to go deeper into positions and improve their range of motion. But generally, one doesn’t want to push any type of stretching too far, because it can result in injury.
As @marinelife and @hearkat note already, no, pushing beyond your real limits is anathema to proper hatha yoga practice.
It’s a challenge, though, and part of the process of self-discovery, to sharpen the skills to distinguish between real limits and the mind simply complaining.
It is encouraged to push through the complaints of the mind that it’s “too hard” or “I don’t like this asana” and to do the best asana you can today, now, in the moment.
At the same time one must know the real limits past which one can get injured, and never cross those lines.
No, just like you wouldn’t push yourself to take Communion 50 times in a day.
No. Never. Yoga is a practice of being in the moment.
Yoga isn’t regular exercise though, it’s a spiritual practice in the same way prayer is for Christians. The asanas are practices for cultivation of the mind and body for hopefully one day in some lifetime of attaining moksha (liberation).
Because of that there is no reason to “drive” yourself. Even if you’re aiming for merging into the infinite, your ego would punish you by causing you lots of physical pain if you push farther than your capacity.
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