Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Could bad posture in some Ashtangis be overcompensation for an inflated ego?

Or, at least, in this Ashtangi. As I mentioned in a recent post, I have a slouching problem. And, judging from a comment by an anonymous commenter on that post, at least one or two other Ashtangis out there also have an issue with slouching.

Now, as many of you know, Ashtanga has a reputation for attracting Type A people. Could it be that some Ashtangis (yes, I know that two Ashtangis is probably too small a sample size to warrant the description "some", but still...) slouch or otherwise have bad posture in order to (over)compensate for certain undesirable Type A traits, such as being overbearing or having an inflated ego? If slouching is indeed associated with low self-esteem, as my massage therapist friend suggests, could it then be employed by some Ashtangis as a sort of psycho-somatic mechanism to depress or suppress an inflated ego?

This thought occurred to me earlier today, after I read this interesting article in Yoga for Smart People (damn! don't you hate it when, a few days after you dissed something, it comes back to bite you in the ass when you actually find something interesting in it? Oh well. Maybe being smart isn't always such a bad thing, after all...) Here's an excerpt from the article:

"If you take an individual with an inflated ego and make their muscles strong and beautiful and limber and encourage them to acknowledge themselves and the contribution they are supposedly making to the world by just showing up on their mat and they have a lot of anger and don’t have a lot of self-awareness and they don’t have the tools to deal with these things and they don’t know where to get them and all the yoga teacher says is “breathe” and “trust yourself” then what happens in the moment that they want to punch someone in the face?

They just breathe. And trust themselves."

To be sure, the author of this article isn't talking about Ashtanga, but about what she calls "postmodern hybrid yoga". I'm not entirely sure what this is; it's probably a catch-all phrase that refers to all those millions of vinyasa flows and hot yogas that we find everywhere in our beautiful (post)modern yoga scene. But I can't help feeling that what she is saying here may also apply to Ashtanga yoga practitioners; if nothing else, a regular six-day-a-week Ashtanga practice can also cause one to have strong and beautiful and limber muscles (trust me, I know what I'm talking about :-)). And I think it was David Swenson who warned that doing asana is like plowing the soil of our being; depending on what you plant in that soil, you will end up with either a very self-realized human being or a very strong and limber and physically beautiful asshole (again, trust me on this; it takes one to know one...).

Anyway, here's my hypothesis: Could it be that some Ashtangis, knowing the powerful potential of this practice to transform one's being for better or for worse, try on some subconscious level to limit its power (say, by slouching, or by adopting other transformation-stunting behaviors)? I don't know if any of this is true or even coherent (as I said, I am working with a very small sample size), but I can't help but wonder, nonetheless.

None of the above, of course, should be taken as an excuse for having bad posture or for developing any other bad habits. It's just me thinking aloud, as always. Well, I do need to go somewhere now, so I'll sign off here. But if you think any of this makes sense, and would like to say something, I'll love to hear from you.      

8 comments:

  1. Ah, slouching or "adopting other transformation-stunting behaviors." There are an awful lot of those, I think. Was it Owl who wrote that many of us slow down the whole process of transformation by half-assing the practice in one way or another? Perhaps we slow it down until we are ready. It's interesting to bring it all into the conscious level so that at least we can be aware of what we're doing or not doing and why.

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    1. I think I do remember Owl writing that somewhere as well; Owl has written so many wise things over the years, it's hard to keep track :-) So yes, perhaps we do consciously or unconsciously slow down the process until we are ready...

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  2. Hi Nobel,
    No offence intended. I forebore from commenting in ur initial posture post in an attempt to remain sthiti! But since you have raised the issue again, I need to say that BAD POSTURE DRIVES ME NUTS!!! Esp. amongst yogis! What excuse is there for consistent slouching coupled with that ridiculousness that has pple standing around pretending they're pregnant (you know that thing where pple slouch + protrude their lower bellies) AAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!! Practice ur yoga beyond the mat! Drag those shoulders down! Engage udiyanna! ALL THE TIME! End of!

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    1. Wow... I did not know that bad posture drives you so nuts. Well, I suppose you could try going around manually pulling down the shoulders of whatever yogis you happen to find slouching/protruding their bellies, and maybe also remind them to engage udiyana bandhas. Not sure what else I can say here... oh, I suppose I should also pray that I will never run into you in real-life; I'm not sure what I would feel about somebody coming out of nowhere to give me a real-time lecture about bad posture...

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    2. Well, u've nailed it in one. I can't go around telling pple to stand up straight:-\ so all I do is grit my teeth and look elsewhere. Would never venture into teaching cause half arsed uttana/paschimotanasanas would drive me (n any potential students) mental... Meanwhile, for the sake of my cyber sanity, pretty pliz drag those shoulders down? That way, should we ever meet, all u'll get from me is a big smile:-)

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    3. Sounds good. I'll work on that :-)

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    4. Even though i do slouch i want to straighten others i see slouching. i resist doing so but would really like it if someone pulled my shoulders when i'm in a slouch.

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    5. Interesting. Now I'm beginning to wonder if the world could not perhaps be divided into two groups of people: Those who want to pull others' shoulders down, and those who don't.

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