Same Pose, Different Bodies: What Mindfulness & Yin Yoga Teacher Training Reveals
One yoga shape. Many experiences. Here’s what continually shows up at yoga classes and more so during Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Training – where more time is given to explore and understand our body-mind-emotions connections.
During our recent Mindfulness & Yin Yoga Teacher Training, it was re-iterated : the same yoga pose creates different responses in different bodies. Often in the same person at different times.
We can all be practicing the same pose and experience it completely differently
Forward fold. Child’s pose. Shoulder opener. Same basic instructions given (as invitations). Different nervous system responses. One person may find release. Another encounters compression, another a good stretch. One may have a little grief come up unexpectedly. One accesses calm and ease. Another notices resistance – the mind saying I don’t want to be here. Some days the same pose feels completely different in the same body.
Through collective sharing, we discovered: bone structure can change sensation. Fascial patterns and how we take care of our body can shape sensation. Stress levels can alter sensation. Past experience can also change how we perceive sensation. How much support we’ve had can change how connected we feel to the sensations. What we’re carrying that day can also have an impact. All of it combines in each moment.
As a yoga teacher we cannot know what someone is or has been through – remembering that is so important when creating a mindful space.
What alignment and structure offer
Alignment is not bad, in fact it is necessary – however ‘alignment’ is different for every body. Learning what is compression, what is tension and then using that information to develop more strength to help protects the joints and create stability. We can also use this information to create freedom from releasing tension in the body. Alignment like any tool can help someone or if the alignment prescribed doesn’t suit that particular skeletal variation – it can harm.
From a safety lens – it is not about which yoga ‘alignment based yoga’ or ‘yin’ yoga is safer – it is more how it is applied. Mindfulness can help both styles of yoga (or any moving modality) so can understanding anatomy and skeletal variation. Well over a decade ago we offered two full days on movement tests that can be practiced to deepen awareness and understanding of skeletal variations and how we can consider this in our practice and yoga teaching and training.
There’s also great value in being led. Not having to think about anything too much. Just receiving instruction and moving with it. That can be bliss. Many people come to yoga for exactly that — the relief of not having to figure anything out. This is why it is useful to incorporate both. Enough instruction for safety, guided suggestions and enough space for internal listening. This balance comes from this type of Mindfulness Based Wisdom being dropped in a little and often over a long time. Such as yoga – it develops and deepens with ongoing practice over time.
You don’t have to choose between alignment-based yoga, flow styles of yoga and yin yoga. All have their place. What matters is honouring what yoga means: union. To yoke. To harness the mind. The reason for that is when the mind is harnessed (more steady) perhaps we are better listeners.
The deeper point
Many things influence this union — body, mind, breath, history, nervous system, this moment. Rarely do we know what’s actually happening without taking time to get to know ourselves. This self-inquiry : *svadyaya* can get overlooked if we’re constantly being told what to do, or constantly needing to be told.
There’s value in letting yourself have your own experience and staying curious without judgment. That combination is mindfulness and yoga together.
Evidence-based science matters too — trauma research, neuroscience, understanding how the nervous system works. Both matter. You access them both.
On the ‘wars’
Over thirty years, of having a foot in both camps (the yoga world, the clinical evidenced based world) I’ve witnessed — and tried to stay out of — the yoga wars. And I’m watching the same play out in neuroscience now. Especially with the modern social media trends of ‘de-bunking’
Is it the body that keeps the score? The mind? The brain? Which approach is right?
Here’s what I remind myself: stand for what you’re *for*, not what you’re against. Keep that focus. Every system has flaws. Every system is incomplete — we’re meant to keep evolving our understanding. Like any tool, it’s how we use it that matters most.
Why people who may not necessarily want to Teach Yoga – do a Yoga &/or Mindfulness Teacher Training
There’s so much we don’t know or understand about our bodies, minds, emotions and how they all can work together or against each other. Trauma Informed Yoga and Mindfulness Teacher Training can provide valuable tools that can be used on and off the yoga mat. Developing greater skills in trauma-informed practice, or perhaps there’s a desire to exploring deeper personal work. Teacher training, mentoring, and 1:1 exploration of how your own experience shapes your capacity in life can be one of the most valuable forms of support that can be applied widely.
A yoga mat and meditation cushion are great places to start learning how to deepen your listening — not just to the head, nervous system, or body, but to your entire experience as a human being.
A Mindful Love Note
How can I contribute to my own health and wellbeing, and in that process contribute to the greater good? Can I do it without getting involved in who’s right and who’s wrong? Can I stay open to what’s happening within me and around me, and learn from my experience and others as I travel through life?
Yoga and mindfulness have helped millions of people. Evidence-based research has done the same. In both, there’s also been corruption and exploitation. Every system will always have flaws. Every system will always be incomplete.
We all have a valuable ripple effect on the whole when we realise: there’s always something we can do.
Namaste
Tammy
- About the author – Tammy Williams is a qualified RN, Trauma Health Professional, Mindfulness & Yoga Therapist.
For more information on 1:1 Sessions or Programs for : Trauma Care, Anxiety, Depression, Burnout, PTSD, Cancer Care or Life Transitions – visit www.tammywilliams.com.au
