Understanding Injury

From Yoga

There are many times in life when we are not open to change. The only way for us to see a new possibility is sometimes preceded by a time of strong emotional discomfort. When we are no longer able to maintain our old pattern of behaviour we are forced to make a change. The interesting aspect of this is that when we feel really bad we don't ever see a way out. The way out then suddenly shows up when we are unable to resist anymore.

Similar processes can happen in the practice of asana (yoga poses). Even if someone's practice is very strong and very careful, it is possible that over a period of a long time very small/invisible mistakes slowly add up and take a form of an injury. In this case the injury is the turning point of our practice. We have to start looking deeper and deeper until we find the answer to what caused the injury. After the injury is healed the practice reaches a new level of understanding and meaning.

To say that we have to learn from the injury is a cliche, and does not help too much.

Injury does not guarantee that things will change for the better. But it opens a possibility that they will. A possibility that can be caught or missed. So, how to catch it?

The occurrence of an injury forces us to abandon the patterns of behaviour which led to it. In this we do not have a choice. But there is something more subtle to this situation, where we actually do have a choice. The choice lies in our reaction to the injury. One of the most important principles in yoga practice is to work with what you have to improve your situation.

The key here is how we approach the injury; it is our attitude that counts. Of course we are likely to swing from one extreme to another, from submission and laziness to the realisation that we may be carving a new path. Can we go beyond this and find a new space for our practice?