We enter the yoga class, the instructor invites us to sit, lay, prop up, maybe wiggle and gently stretch. We chant or breathe, close our eyes to center or meditate, we set an intention, theme or focus for the practice, maybe we AUM together. That maybe takes a few minutes or more, sometimes it’s immediate and quick. Either way, that is the beginning. We’ve “started” yoga. Class began when we entered and gathered and couldn’t collectively begin until then. From there we begin moving through movement and poses strung together carefully to go somewhere we don’t have an idea or full picture of yet. But the progression increases in challenge from start to finish, with maybe a few peaks up and down, but somehow always helping us get to the next thing we practice, and all of it collectively supporting us in being able to do the biggest and hardest things we attempt. Somewhere in the class we do something that feels bigger and harder than anything else and then it start to feel as though we are winding down and heading in a different but very welcomed direction. We start the “cool down” phase. And then, before we know it we are the most energetically, physically and maybe mentally wiped out and we’re invited into our favorite pose and part of the sequence - savasana. ahhh. Coming up from savasana brings the room back into a quite but collective “aliveness” again where we are all a little different from when we came in- a little stronger, more flexible, wiser and more present & conscious. The teacher offers parting words, guides breath and maybe one last AUM together. The class is over, complete. And that is the end of the class. But somehow, simultaneously another beginning to the next part of your day, week, month, year, life. The class and all of it in each of its parts become part of a very long thread of experiences you had before it, somehow leading you into that one specific yoga practice and will affect everything that happens after it.
This is, in a very brief and specific nutshell of an experience, the concept and theme for the week:
| KRAMA |
Krama is a Sanskrit term meaning “succession." This can denote a step-by-step progression or a consequential sequence of events. I like to think of it as the natural order of things as they happen one after the other. Cause and effect. In the Tantric school of thought which dates back centuries, we can broadly understand krama as referring to the macrocosmic progressive nature of the entire Universe unfolding and manifesting.
In the current 200 hour teacher training I am co-leading and in every class this week we are working this theme. Finding different ways to become more conscious of this idea and look at it from a lens that really just allows us to open up our perspective of how things happen, both on the mat and hopefully more when we are off of it roaming about our day with a slightly more mindful approach. Beyond the general layout of most classes, there are the aforementioned phases or stages of the class that are grouped together to prep us and our bodies to head into the next; each phase and stage based on those prior. And then on an even more microcosmic layer, there are the ways in which we connect to each posture and work them during the longer holds that work in a step-by-step, progressive fashion. That goes for pretty much all practices as far as I’ve experienced in class as a student in some way or another. The Anusara style of yoga is based on a set of principles that we practice in particular and sequential order which in the class lends itself perfectly to this theme and has definitely helped me as both a student and a teacher reach a greater awareness of this in the practice. We focus physically on the primary and fundamental things first- the things that connect us to the most obvious and attainable- and then progress by working in other, more advanced and complex principles to deepen the pose and expand it further. It’s like the evolution of the asana- the pose itself, the class, and every class we ever take. I feel them as being strung together, painting a bigger picture. In the beginning of my path with yoga things felt more micro- like they were independent and separate. Every good thing that happened was a one-off, every bad thing was some telling detail about how I wasn’t in the right place or doing the right thing somehow- a mistake or a regression.
Krama is a macro perspective with a really big view. Everything leads to the next thing, no matter how small, boring, or insignificant or how big, challenging, scary or incredible it feels. And all things lead us forward and to where we find ourselves. Krama is the idea that everything we experience is giving us access, permission and power for our present and future.
When I remember the natural and totally organic order of things in life, the pressure is off. Everything continues to be threaded along as it happens one by one. The last experience produces and manifests the next. What if I put as high a level of consciousness (mindfulness/presence) as possible on the present moment? (Think the high level of attention you put into what’s going on in class when you want to really grasp something the teacher is teaching that you don’t quite understand yet) To me this means that I can be in it fully, surrender to it and propel myself. And technically, as long as I’m alive and gaining the experience at hand, whatever comes next is what is meant to manifest and I am ready for.
It helps me source a deeper well of gratitude for all the things that have taken place before “now”. Without needing to remember those things in any detail, without having to go back and rethink or relive them. I know that it all brought me here and that it all fills me with the power and the knowledge to keep moving forward in the best ways for me. All the smaller experiences become bigger and more enlightening. The bigger experiences become the grand potent lessons and major driving forces, whether they were processed as good or bad, positive or negative.
Krama is a concept that dates back centuries and is woven deeply into the rich fabric of the yoga practice by way of its philosophy. Whether you see things this way or not isn’t very important. But that it is available to us to work and shift our perspective and gives us a way to feel the engineering of the fun and delight that takes place on our yoga mats is truly the more important aspect.
It is a rooted and insightful way of looking at “everything happens for a reason”.
I know. That saying in our society has been drowned out and has become a such staple and blanket response for us in more contemporary society for so many things. And boy can it be hard to digest sometimes. When things are good, the notion is so welcomed. When things are hard enough, it just doesn’t seem to satiate a broken heart or the darkness of depressed times and lacks the depth that serves someone feeling loss. No one wants to hear that something really terrible happened for a reason and definitely not while grieving.
Learning krama in the yoga practice helps me maintain a broader outlook and embracing attitude toward that phrase and what it might be looking to mean and serve in all circumstances. “Everything happens for a reason” then aligns more clearly with a notion I think a lot of us are familiar with often much later after something has happened, after the lesson has been received, after the emotions have been processed- “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it hadn’t been for…”.
It all had to happen. All of it has to happen. That’s the magic, the mystery and even the science of it.
In a super simple way, I like to think of it like cooking. We start out with a recipe, a bunch of different ingredients and are aiming to put them all together in some orderly and specific way to have a fully cooked meal. Some of the ingredients need to be prepped. Some ingredients get put in before or after others to bring out the flavor in different ways or so that they interact with each other in different ways. We work the chopping of one thing at a time, a seasoning of one thing at a time, a stirring of one thing at a time, and through that process a recipe is put together to get the final product. This all takes time, energy, patience and a knowing that everything that is happening throughout is leading us toward having that delicious, long-awaited meal. There’s no way to really rush it or we could alter the flavor and quality of the dish. Even if it doesn’t turn out exactly the way you wanted it or the way it looked in the picture or YouTube video, at least you know how it’s done a little bit more now and you’ve practiced and have a way of readjusting whatever wasn’t quite right. You’re a better cook no matter what! You’re a step closer to being an expert chef for that one dish.
That’s yoga too. That’s one way of working the yoga practice outside of the classroom. That’s seeing krama in another way, off the mat.
This concept both on and off the mat serves as a reminder that we are all growing from the things that came before “now”. Every lightbulb moment to the painful trials. It serves as a way of zooming the lens out, finding the freedom of disassociating from the things and feelings from what has happened before, and see that we are being led somewhere bigger. Without having to wait for the next thing to happen, it will come. And with that we can truly be present in the moment.
It’s only natural that we humans feel good or bad and mentally reward or punish ourselves accordingly if we can or can’t do something, when we do or don’t have something, or when we succeed or fail at something. Zoomed all the way in, it’s hard not to feel those things! Deciding to slow down, take a step back, push ahead, speed up the process- they’re all options. They’ll all lead you forward in different ways. Your sequence will continue threading. There are no set-backs or finish lines. There is freedom in your choice that can be made based on what is in your heart and based on the present moment that you know will send you above and beyond what you think your choices are “supposed to be” based on.
The yoga practice reminds us that it is our Divine right and in our true Divine nature to continuously and endlessly progress, evolve, continuously succeed because of and through the sequence of moments and events that take place. No matter how they feel to us we’re growing, everything is happening for that purpose and because of that we can enjoy the present moment more, embrace and absorb the stage we are in.
So, maybe next time you’re in class, the sequence will stand out to you more. The how and why we do certain poses before and after others will “click”. Maybe in our next class, as we unpack this them even more in the classroom setting and focus on embodying this sequential order, you’ll find a little more wiggle room to befriend the version of you who is on the mat and the stages of your asanas in that class. You’ll never be in those exact same stage of your practice in the same way ever again! And hopefully that gives you the freedom to love your yoga, your journey and all of its stages and phases even more than you already do.