The definition and goal of yoga is one and the same, according to Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras: Quiet the contortions of the mind.
To me, it feels like we must simmer down the nerves. We have these meaty bodies, chock full of noisy nerves. It is the nervous system that effects the mind, body, and emotions. The nervous system is on alert. The nervous system communicates danger, fear, emotional turmoil. The nervous system reports pain.
The unsupported, untrained nervous system contracts us, limits us, worries us. Yoga calms the nerves on all fronts.
If we are in reactive mode to a constant barrage of nervous feedback, we can cause more damage, negativity, constriction, and fear. When we feel pain (physically or otherwise), our first reaction is to stop it. Immediately. Fight or flight. And yet, reactivity is not always the right move. If we don’t manage the nerves, they will manage us.
The physical poses (Asanas) teach us how to manage the nerves. As we stretch, we encounter tightness. We intentionally seek it out. We slow down for the purpose of learning, healing, and growing. As we practice stretching different muscle groups, they don't literally grow longer. The nerves in the area calms down so that we become more flexible.
Within the tightness of the body is life’s history. There’s a lifetime of stress and tension in the neck, shoulders, hips, hamstrings, etc. There’s often physical injury. There’s emotional trauma. There’s stagnation and even atrophy from years of neglect.
It can be scary to feel a stretch because of past (and present) turmoil. For example, it feels vulnerable and scary doing a back bend, with our hearts and chests wide open. We become aware of unfamiliar sensations, such as muscles adjusting in new ways to these strange contortions. Our beating hearts may feel different, which may trigger fear of injury or death. We may experience our opening lungs in an overwhelming way. We might feel completely exposed and unsafe.
But we can choose to experience strange feelings, breathe into tightness, and allow vulnerability. In the process, we discover all the tools the yoga Asanas provide to quiet the nervous system. We discover calm, relaxed, easy.
Then we can use these tools off the mat, in everyday life.
Yoga teaches us that we don’t always have to respond to fear and pain. We don’t have to fear physical and emotional discomfort. We don’t have to react. We have the power to choose action versus reaction. We can observe discomfort and pain. We can learn from it. If nothing else, we can allow it, because it is.
Yoga teaches us how to assess pain. We become better educated at what is dangerous pain that can cause injury, and what is necessary discomfort for growth and healing. We gain self-awareness, self-mastery, and self-control by entering the “discomfort zone.”
In yoga, to practice balance we must practice falling. To practice awareness, we must practice returning from distraction. To practice stretching, we must practice tightness. To practice courage, we must practice fear.
To practice open, we must practice closed.
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