Yoga can be practiced alone or in a group. Anybody who has experienced both knows that it is more inspiring, fun and effortless in doing it in a group. Some of the issues which sometimes might pop-up spoiling the party are:
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Mismatched level.
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Boring class, not enough fun.
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Forced, no choice.
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Bad teacher, not stimulating enough.
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Too stiff, rigid.
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Too strenuous, exhausting.
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Not enough support system to continue the practice.
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Not in the best shape or too much self-conscious that looking good enough to be in the group.
Every problem has a solution. The only thing is that sometimes we either don’t know it or we do not do enough due diligence to find it. Here comes a solution, to remove the hurdles between you and Yoga: Participative Yoga, in short “pY”. Yoga means “Union”, the collective group “Participative Yoga” is truly a better union. The social aspect of participative Yoga makes the process happier, more fulfilling and much more rewarding.
So, what is “Participative Yoga”?
In Participative Yoga, everyone participates. There is no hierarchy. Everyone has equal say. Everyone shares their information, knowledge, experience and wisdom. Everyone collectively make the experience as much enriching as possible for everyone including themselves. It is a “Team Yoga”. No one is alone, everyone is part of one single team. We can also call it “Collaborative Yoga” or “Social Yoga”. Not only participants get together to make the session a one-of-a-kind unique timeless experience, they also participate in the administration and the management. They add value through whatever skills they have, from whatever profession they are and whatever way they can contribute and be really involved.
And what about this funny short form “pY”?
Naming helps, as we have to name everything to distinguish that thing from other things. The shorter and easier the name, the better it is. It gets even shorter as “p” we can more or less choose not to pronounce. The prefix “p” stands for “Participative” but ultimately what is important is the Yoga, so it is there like the “p” in psychology. The shortest possible form to identify anything saves quite a bit of precious time accumulatively while repeating the name.
Guidelines:
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Freedom: Everyone has equal voice. There is no single teacher. There is no authority. So there is total freedom and it is completely democratic. Everyone is free to practice any form of Yoga.
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Flexibility: There is no compulsion to follow anyone else, any particular posture in any certain way or any sequence of any kind. The only thing to consider is not to indulge in irrelevant activities or interaction other than Yoga. There is also a flexibility of time, one can join late and leave early. Everyone’s life is different and the more flexible anything becomes, the more easily it can be adapted.
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Friendly: Everyone participating is a friend and must be friendly. Nobody sees the other participant with cross eyes. No need to follow other’s instructions. It is okay to have disagreement. Nobody needs to feel offended. Inputs can be welcomed, asked, appreciated or can be totally ignored and trashed.
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Fun: The more fun, the better. Anything is welcomed which adds more fun. The more the laughter, the healthier. Participants are free to express their funny bones. They can smile and laugh for no reason, not necessarily at anyone or anything in particular. No one needs to be offended. To an acceptable level insanity is allowed.
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Fulfilling: If you are under more stress and wants to do Yoga longer till you release all the baggage, you can do that. Everyone’s need and capacity is different. Best is to listen to the Mind and Body, basically the Nature. The best is to practice upto the point of fulfillment. So end your session at your discretion with the good feeling, the feeling of satisfaction, accomplishment and fulfilment.
Advantages:
There are several advantages of “Participative Yoga” (pY), some of them are:
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You can go at your own pace. In a group of people, not everyone can be of same level. Some are more advanced than others. The ones who are yet not so good enough may feel bad about themselves or be under continuous pressure to match the ones outperforming them. It is good to have role models around for healthy improvement, but Yoga is not about competition. Yoga is about “doing” and enjoying it while doing. In pY no one needs to follow any individual or group. Everyone is there to just do Yoga, not matching and following the same posture or even same sequence. In case of doing the same posture, if someone is at the last step, it is perfectly okay if you are still contemplating to finish your first step.
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You can be yourself. You can do the postures you like to do. Many a times some postures are too completed for you as you are not so proficient yet. Rather than again being over-conscious that you are making a fool of yourself, you can be totally at ease that you can entirely skip the too difficult postures for you. You can choose to replace them with the postures you can do without over-stretching and over-exerting yourself. An optimum balance between something too easy and too difficult is the ideal range.
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You learn more. In typical classes being led by a single teacher, the group is limited to the knowledge and experience of one individual. Here one can get much more from the collective information, knowledge, experience and expertise, which can be generally always greater than any one individual. So everyone learns new stuff and much more including the teachers in the group.
For similar content, please visit www.Anvention.com for Meditation and www.Creatam.com for Creatam.
