5 Ways To Take Your Yoga Practice To A Whole New Level

Do you remember the yoga high you used to get when you left class? That hazy, happy feeling that caused you to forget your water bottle and mat in the change room, but made you really feel like a better person for the next week? Such is the power of yoga! But what happens when that feeling wanes? Experienced yoga instructor, Kathryn Flynn explores the next steps.

Gradually, with a regular yoga practice, the highs of that blissed-out state begin to fade because the effects of yoga – less anxiety, improved patience, strength and flexibility, decreased emotional overwhelm – diffuse into the rest of our life and going to regular yoga classes becomes a kind of ‘soul maintenance’.

So, if it sounds at all familiar, what’s next for you? If you’ve ever asked your experienced teachers a question, you may realize that what they share in class is a smidgen compared to what they know. So what are your options for taking your practice to a whole new level?

Yoga Teacher Training

In some regards, this should really be renamed Yoga Student Training. The yoga standard for a Foundational Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) is 200 hours, which may sound like a lot, but it’s really just the beginning of a teacher practice. I always tell my students that once they graduate, rather than jumping on more trainings, they need to read and practice. A YTT will radically inform how you practice yoga and give you the tools to start teaching, but to keep teaching, it’s really just giving you the basic building blocks of a yoga life. There are lots of people that do these types of training and never teach, but find their practice means that much more to them now that they can round out their classes with background theory, philosophy and anatomy.

Workshops

Ever notice that one teacher will swear up and down that you have to do a pose one way, but you can attend the same studio with a different teacher and get a paradoxical cue? There’s a lot going in the yoga world – different styles or lineages all intermingled with various schools of biomechanics, movement modalities and anatomy. Some teachers will use Sanskrit, and others teach to hip hop (not that the two are mutually exclusive). Workshops will start to shed light on the whys and hows your teachers are dropping class, and they’re perfect for yogis who want more tutelage in a particular area and can’t devote the time to a YTT.

Kathryn Flynn shares 5 ways to take your yoga practice to a whole new level
Image: Kathryn Flynn

Books

Thanks to yoga’s diversity, there’s an expanding yoga literature industry that you can easily tap into. Covering every topic from anatomical specifics (yoga for every physical ailment) to the history of yoga’s journey to nations outside India, you have to pick your books carefully since they tend to be either directed at the deeply initiated or the very beginner. Some middle way recommendations include Carol Horton and Roseanne Harvey’s collection of highly relevant essays, 21st Century Yoga, and Michael Stone’s The Inner Tradition of Yoga. For recording your own yoga journey, since this practice is one of reflection, I highly recommend Elena Brower’s beautifully curated Art of Attention.

Yoga Documentaries

Hopefully you’ve got time to read, but everyone needs to trade leggings for sweatpants and a bowl of popcorn once in awhile. Popular in nighttime viewing at yoga teacher trainings is YYoga, which interviews many of the big names in yoga and asks them what the title implies. Their answers and stories are warm and amusing, and you’ll get a general overview of how diverse yoga can be.

Similar format with a specific focus, Yoga Woman looks at why this practice has been particularly resonant with women in the west, as you may be surprised that it is a practice that was fostered for and by men!

Journal

The simplest, most profound way to advance your yoga practice is not to do all the classes you can and buy every yoga product on the market, it’s to simply tune in to what’s going on. Start your own yoga journal. Record the style, time, and teacher of your class, and then consider answering these questions. How did your practice feel in your body? What was distracting you? Where did you experience significant difficulty, and where did you experience ease? What was your intention and mantra for today’s class? What were you grateful for in your practice? 

Above all, remember that yoga might have something to do with leggings, green juice, chanting, acrobatics and stretching, but at the heart of all lineages, yoga is skill in action. Whatever helps you hone your ability to be a kind and calm person in this world supports your yoga.

Kathryn Flynn is a smart, warm and occasionally humorous yoga teacher who lives in Ottawa, Canada and teaches everywhere that wants to learn her researched and passionate approach to all levels vinyasa yoga, movement, and meditation. Visit her at intelligent edge yoga, on Facebook or Instagram for event dates, writing, and online yoga practices. Kathryn will be teaching in London at the new Union Station Yoga on Sunday, May 17th if you want to experience practical wisdom for a soaring experience of yoga.

www.intelligentedgeyoga.com