Using Trikonasāna to see the changing nature of truth

Life lessons from the yoga mat

The more tied we are to a truth, or want to believe it, the harder it can be to see when it’s no longer true and to let go of it. One of the many learnings of this pandemic is that what we firmly believe to be true one day can be completely dismantled the next. Can you relate?

Our postural yoga practice is a wonderful way to develop the flexibility of mind required to more easily accept changes to deeply held truths.

I’ll take Trikonāsana as an example. When you first learn Trikonāsana, you’re probably taught that the lower hand holds the shin or a yoga brick. That, to you, is how Trikonāsana is done.

Then over time as your legs get stronger you’re taught that the back of your hand can rest on the inner calf, so the arm is no longer taking part of your body weight, or perhaps your fingertips rest on the ground. You’ve looked at yoga books, seen what other students are doing, and you think ‘NOW I am doing proper Trikonāsana!’.

Then one day your teacher says ‘Now bring the arm overhead and notice how this changes the stretch along the side of the body’ and you think, “Wait, whaaaaat? Is this even Trikonāsana?” Or you go to a different teacher and they instruct you to take your hand completely off the leg or ground.

It’s all Trikonāsana, whether classical, modified or a fancy variation.

As you go through this journey you learn to let go of the idea that there’s one ‘correct’ way, and that what is true for you in the posture is not the same as what’s true for another student, with a different body, strength and range of movement.

What is true for you today in the posture may not be what was true for you yesterday, nor will be tomorrow.

The truth of the posture is – or should be – what is accessible, safe and effective for you today, and in that moment.

Maybe you can think of a posture that has helped you learn this lesson. One where you thought you'd nailed it and were finally doing the 'full' or 'correct' posture, then learnt that there were other ways, and the other way worked better for you. Or one where you tried and tried to get into the 'right' way of doing it, and then realised how much easier things were if you let go of what you thought was the right way and were open to other ways?

You can see where I'm going...

This, like much that we discover on our mat, is a metaphor for life.