258 - What is An Advanced Yoga Practice?

What does it mean to have an advanced yoga practice? Or to teach one?
What does it mean for teachers?

Today we explore some of the subjectivity of what constitutes an advanced practice, the importance of recognizing one's individual needs, and the role of teachers in guiding students. 

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The music for this episode is Threads by The Light Meeting.
Produced by: Grey Tanner

Transcript

Bonnie (00:01.57)
Hello friends, and welcome back to the podcast. Today, today I have a question for you. What is an advanced yoga practice?

What is an advanced yoga practice? And as a yoga teacher,

Bonnie (00:25.726)
What are we looking for in students when we are thinking about encouraging their physical practice because so much of what we might teach is physical? How do we balance the physical with the spiritual? And what is an advanced practice and what is yoga then? Right? So it kind of is a combination of everything. And so you've just listened to my introduction.

for the podcast where I have defined yoga as the practice of paying attention.

And part of the practice that I love to teach is the physical aspect of it. Okay. Let's dive into this a little bit. So the physical aspect of the yoga practice is something that I love because you can touch it because it's tactile, because you can't touch fear. You can't touch joy. You can't touch sorrow. You can't touch heartbreak. can't touch elation, but you can touch the skin that you're in. You can use your body for all it is worth and

allow that to move you because you know you can't stand up in the room and stretch your arms out wide, your legs out wide and take star pose and stretch your fingers out wide and not have it create some sort of feeling inside of you. You can't learn how to stand on your hands and face the fear of toppling over and build the strength in your wrists and your shoulders and your awareness of your body and space and not feel a thing. You can't lay down and give yourself permission to lay on the floor and do nothing.

and let it be enough without feeling something.

Bonnie (02:08.586)
You can't take the invitation to do one thing or the other and choose. And maybe if you chose one thing and you decide to choose again and you choose something else and you're giving yourself permission to choose and make a different choice, even if you began with something that you're gonna switch it, you can't choose again without instilling inside yourself that same lesson everywhere else in your life, right?

I can't lift up something heavy and not have it affect me. I can't climb a wall when I go bouldering and not have to face that little fear of falling and a trust in my own body to be able to hold myself up, right? I have definitely, can think of a time recently where I was really feeling angry and I went outside to my basketball hoop and I...

shot a hundred free throws after I ran around and shot along other times, other things. And I allowed the physical movement to move me because I can't touch anger, but I can touch this body. And I so believe in the power of our bodies and the ways that we move them and the way that it moves the insides of us. If your brain is feeling cloudy, move. If your brain is feeling busy, move. If you're trying to find some peace and

the pieces are all stuck together in weird ways or you can't order the things, move. Go put something in your body and make it easy. Make it an easy start. It doesn't have to look like anything in specific, but there might be different movements that move us in different ways that are different tools for our toolbox of being human.

Bonnie (04:01.528)
So what is an advanced practice? And why do I think movement is important? And how does the physical and spiritual interact, right? I really enjoy the definition that I heard from Patrick Beach and Carling Harps on a podcast a long time ago, where they defined an advanced yoga practice, something akin to knowing your options and choosing.

and that simple.

Bonnie (04:28.526)
and a more physically demanding practice, there can be objectively more demanding practice, right? Like is a handstand more demanding in general? Yes, objectively, yes. But subjectively, maybe it's less demanding for one person and it's more demanding for another person. So sure, we could say that maybe that's advanced or demand, I don't know. I think that can be easily muddled, the physical practice or the physical aspect.

when we think of what is advanced or not, because all of us are different people. And what is advanced to one person is not advanced necessarily for another person as far as difficulty, right? But.

or ability, I don't think I want to say ability. But we can look at the demand of something and say, okay, the physical demand, this movement, this posture or this transition between these postures is demanding that we have this certain amount of flexibility or mobility or strength. And that's a little bit tricky. This is going to require some learning. This is going to require a little dive into some physical practice. So I'm absolutely...

aware of that there is some demand in a yoga class, very much like there's demand in literally everything you do. If you wanna be able to get into the car, y'all, with my low back pain that I had, like especially two years ago, sitting in the car was so sucky. Like it was terrible to get in and out of the car and just sitting in the car, like to be able to sit just in the car and drive my car was so painful. That was thankfully not where I'm at anymore.

but is driving a car physically demanding? In general, we would say no, but in that moment for me, it really was. So my advanced practice in my body at that moment was driving the freaking car. that really was a terrible time. I have learned so much from all of that. So with this said, we don't know as teachers when somebody is showing up in a room.

Bonnie (06:41.39)
if the thing that we're offering is advanced or not in their body, it might be advanced in that moment. We can teach to the demand of a thing. And we really, I think this is really where it becomes really powerful thing as teachers is to look at the postures and the transitions, both that we are inviting people to move through and ask ourselves before we teach it in our planning, what the demand is. What are people gonna need to know?

or what are ways to simplify this movement? And what's the order of operations to guide somebody through this to make it the easiest way to understand? And how do we use our language in a way that's invitational and playful in a way that allows them to mess up and feel successful still? And also allows us to mess up because we might be teaching it for the first time or we might be teaching it for the first time to these people.

So an advanced practice is kind of subjective. It depends on the subject, depends on the person you're talking about and to. And we can look at the demand that we're asking of a physical practice and try to make options and adjustments and invitations. And that we believe here, hopefully, while you're with me here on this, that this physical practice, this physical body, that it is

so impactful for all the things non-physical in our lives. And this balance between physical and spiritual cannot be separated actually. The way our head and heart feels, they're connected to our body, right? When you feel heartbroken, your heart literally hurts. The center of your chest literally hurts. If you have things you need to say, the ways you're holding back your jaw might hurt.

When you're feeling like you're overwhelmed by loss or excitement or grief.

Bonnie (08:52.974)
or you're really invested in a certain project, right? And you're in like your joy flow, you might not eat. You're like, I'm processing so many other things that you're like, your stomach isn't even like, and all of those are a little bit different. Like when you're in grief, you're like, I cannot, like I just think about when my mom just passing recently where I was like, well, now I'm no longer hungry. My body was processing so much that like I wasn't even hungry, right? And so that's my emotions affecting my body.

So again, what is an advanced practice? And what is an advanced practice today? And I think this is really important to talk about because I still will go to classes and teachers will still be congratulating students for doing the objectively hard things. Objectively meaning the things that are absolutely require more physical strength. They require more demand.

You think of arm balances and getting upside down on your hands and handstands. Think of things that require a lot of flexibility, flipping your grip. Think of dancers poses, the flip grip or the splits or a big balancing posture that includes mobility or flexibility. And it's really easy to see those things and to say,

I know that takes work because it does. And as somebody myself, raising my own hand here, who loves the physical challenge of something, y'all, like that definitely kept me like coming back to yoga because it's so fun to find that playfulness in my body, to watch my body grow in strength, to watch yourself grow in strength and capacity and understanding and to see what you can do.

That is so fun and so powerful. so powerful. And if you are somebody who has practiced for a long time, you're like, wow, I could not do this with my body. And now I can do this with my body and it feels good. That is incredible. That changes, not just your physical practice, that changes your life. Cause again, things that touch the physical are also going to affect that spiritual mental heart, everything else space. So it's

Bonnie (11:17.75)
It's the same, right? So as somebody who comes to the practice and loves the work of inversions and getting upside down and doing things that are demanding, right? So do a pistol squat to a handstand, sure. I can do that with my body. It's not extremely hard for my body at this very moment. It is in other times, but at this very moment it's not. Could a teacher then congratulate me because it's...

easy to see that that is a hard thing. It's easy to know that objectively a pistol squat is hard. We know this. We know that a handstand is hard objectively that like it takes a lot to learn how to do it and to know what it is you're doing and to be in control of yourself. Yeah, it's easy to see that. So it's easy to congratulate that, but I think we should stop.

think we should stop because if an advanced practice is knowing your options and then choosing which one is going to meet you best in this moment, it might not be the thing that's on your hands. It might not be the thing that's the most flexible or the most mobile. It might be the opposite. It might be somewhere in between. And it's hard for us as teachers to see that. And if we are only congratulating in the room saying like, I see you doing that. Good job over here.

that if we're only saying things about the people who are doing the most demanding things, I think that we are doing a disservice to our students who know their options and are choosing what is best for their body that maybe isn't the most demanding and that their advanced practices, they know that they can, or they know that that's possible, or they know their options and they're choosing something

that's not calling a bigger, like it's not big in the room. That's what I want to say. It's not big in the room.

Bonnie (13:12.609)
end.

it meets them exactly where they need to be. It's hard to know that because we don't know the internal experience of a person. We don't know if they got injured since their last class and now like this is the most that their body can do. And so their practice is knowing exactly where they are and landing in that. you know, it's a tricky place because, because I think part of the practice is learning how to know yourself.

And in a physical way, as much as anything else, but to feel our bodies and say like, what is, what's my body feeling? What do I want? What do I need? And the yoga class being an, opportunity to ask those questions of ourselves where maybe we don't ask those questions of ourselves and other places in our lives. And it can be a place of immense growth. Y'all, if you're listening to this, you probably have yoga in your life.

When did yoga become an important part in your life? How did it change your life? What did it give you? What did it give you that another thing in your life or other things in your life were not giving you? And I really think that, gosh, there's like several things. We could could we could riff on this for the rest of eternity of this podcast, right? Because I think that part of it is you get to ask the question of what do I want and what do I need?

Of course, there are different types of practice, but that still is a place where you can say, what do want? What do I need tonight? And is it this type of yoga? And is it this type of yoga? Is it this teacher? Is it that teacher? And sometimes you might have the availability to choose depending on where you live and what kind of yoga is available. But the online world opens up a lot of classes as well. And so then you can lean into choice. And then in a single class, a teacher can give

Bonnie (15:12.258)
bus stops or offer levels or be like, hey, go ahead and mod this practice in a way that fits you right now. And the teacher is going to craft options for you. So they don't have to make so many decisions. And I think that's part of the gift that we give as teachers is rather than just opening up and say, do whatever feels best in your body. I mean, this podcast is a lot of topics here, but I'm gonna throw it out here that people don't know what that means. What does that mean? And can we prepare enough so that we can

give them options so they can know where they might go and they can land there. And they know how to turn the knob up or down on the intensity of that experience. And that first one person, the intensity might be very high, another person's intensity might be very low, but that we have the opportunity to choose.

with the opportunity to choose. I think often about the word edge and how the word edge is sometimes brought up in yoga class and get to the edge of what you can do. And whenever I think of that, I think of like going to the edge of a cliff and I'm like, what, do we get to the edge of a cliff? And then we just like jump off and then we know that we've reached the point of maximum discomfort where the wind is blowing on our face and our foot can slip anytime and

Like, that what the edge is? And as somebody who enjoys lifting and enjoys pushing myself and seeing what's possible, I am 100 % that person. I love that. I love using my body as an experiment and seeing what I can learn from myself in my movement practices. And.

And I think that when I started thinking about the edge of something as the edge of pleasure, rather than the edge of maximum effort and most discomfort, things changed. What is the edge where you can find the most pleasure in the work? Where the work becomes like textured, where you're like, ooh, I can feel this now.

Bonnie (17:33.238)
and where you can flip that and say, rather than finding the edge of discomfort in this, can you find the edge of pleasure? And how does that tie into an advanced practice? And can advanced practice be an awareness of yourself and your options? And saying, what is the pleasure edge that I want to bring to my experience tonight? What options can I give myself or take from the teacher and from the guidance of this class?

Where does that help me connect most with myself and pay most attention?

That's a place of congratulation rather than congratulating anybody on getting upside down on their hands.

It's where are you in the in-between?

Bonnie (18:27.064)
the space of transition, the space of question and curiosity, the space of landing somewhere and then choosing something again and doing the handstand and then saying like, this next time actually I'm just gonna flop down on my belly. Child's pose is not the pose to like even I think say and to say you can push back to child's pose at any time, like child's pose kind of sucks actually.

Bonnie (18:51.928)
I mean, sometimes it's good, but it's also like not. It's also hard. There's a lot of flexion in your hips and your knees and in your ankles. There's a lot of things that can be the way my legs can be in the way of my belly, like boobs. Like there can be all these things that are in the way. We'll put in the way is like not in the way, but like they're just, they're there. And that might not put the thing. Maybe the invitation is lay down.

Anytime you want to lay down. What if we stop saying push back to child's pose anytime you want and say lay down whenever you want.

Just lay down. I have taken to laying down in the middle of the floor a lot, lying down, just being like, I'm just gonna lay down, arms out, legs out.

Bonnie (19:41.976)
Lay down. And then I will get up and I will keep going. how we already say weird things as yoga teachers. Bring your right elbow to your left knee, turn and look over your back shoulder. I don't know, like we're already doing so many weird things that we can say more weird things and it's actually normal. So if you're to say, rather than saying, you know, push back to child's pose anytime you want, if that's part of your advanced practice of the day, you're like,

If you ever wanna lay down in class, just lay down, right? Then stand back up when you're ready.

and that there's this invitation of freedom to move, where there's enough guidance that people know that you have got them and where they trust themselves to land in it because of your excellent queuing and guidance that you know where you're going and you're watching them. You're watching them. But then also enough freedom that they know that they can choose. I think that's the magic sauce and it does not come fast.

It does not come easy as a teacher. is something we practice as part of the craft of and guiding others. And it is part of the gift for both us as a teacher and for students. And I think as I'm just coming off some recording this a week of in-person flow school, has 17 teachers who traveled to Portland, Oregon and spent the week with me and I had them over to my house for dinner on Wednesday and we spent like

up to nine hours a day together, I'm changed again. I'm changed again and again and again as I gather with teachers. And I know that the work that I'm doing is exactly where I need to be. You the ways that we interact with the teachers that are interested in this sort of exploration and looking at the definition of words and looking at the ways we're really holding space and observing teaching.

Bonnie (21:47.338)
as a craft and wanting to hone that in personal ways and to tap into personal creativity and their own freedom for the benefit of offering their students more freedom. I don't think there's anything better. I don't think there's anything better.

Bonnie (22:11.97)
An advanced practice, an advanced teaching practice is the same. It is knowing your options and then choosing which class, which type of class is best for these students today, knowing what you know about the students and acknowledging what you don't know about these students, both.

Bonnie (22:36.046)
It takes experience. It takes putting things on. It takes messing up. It takes doing it wrong and then doing it right. It's all of it over and over.

So to everybody meeting themselves in the practice of teaching, in the practice of being on your own mat, in the practice of being human and asking yourself, giving yourself permission to say, what do I want and what do I need? And knowing your options and choosing. Let me be somebody to congratulate you no matter how that looks today.

And even if that's different for what it looked like yesterday and what it's going to look like tomorrow.

I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you for meeting yourself exactly where you are and giving yourself what you need and being brave enough to ask what you want and meeting yourself there.

Bonnie (23:39.995)
If you're a teacher, you wanna work with me in flow school, I am going to continue to do more in-person flow schools in this next year as we head into 2025. I am going to be going to Dallas, Texas in February the 15th through the 19th. Come join me there. That's the only one on the calendar right now. There's more coming, but that's the date that's for sure right now. As I share this, have...

five secured spots right now, it is limited to 16 people. This is a high touch experience. This is where you and I get to sit together and where you really meet these other teachers in this group. It is 8.30 to 5.30 for five days a week. It's powerful. There's a magic to being in the room. And I am grateful to be in it with you. Thank you teachers for showing up for your students and for honing your craft.

and being gentle with yourselves in this learning process of how to show up and be a leader.

You are so needed. Thank you.