Your Thoughts on 'Internal' and 'External'

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi, new forum member, also relatively new to ‘organized’ Yoga.
My Q came about while thinking thru Alix’s ‘Alignment in Savasana’ Q.
I did do a search on the my Q topic, but couldn;t readily find anything…

Would love to hear thoughts on this…

Which might be a better approach? - follow what I ‘imagine’ my posture and movement flow might be thru my ‘internal image’ of myself as I progress thru practice
or
take ‘inventory’ of my posture and movment thru my external view, as in ‘watch’ my positions and adjust as I think they might need it.

‘External’ causes me to be less focused on my breath and abililty to ‘feel’ the movement. relying on my ‘Internal image’ definitely allows me to focus much better on my breath and overall flow. Internal prolly means my ‘posture’ isn’t as close to ‘prescribed’ as it might be if I actually took external visual inventory.

Maybe it needs a bit of both? For right now, the more I rely on ‘watching’ my pose and movement the less ‘focused’ I feel…

Your thoughts?

Namaste :slight_smile:

#2

Cyclezen, do you practice by yourself or as part of a class? If you are part of a class, then it is best to do as you visualize yourself doing, and let your teacher come and correct your postures as it is difficult to do this to yourself. If you are practicing on your own, then my advice is really irrelevant and I have nothing else to offer…Sorry!

I guess I’m in the adjust the outer body to correct posture (or as close as you can get to it) so that you may achieve your full potential.

#3

I play golf and sometimes we watch people swing. If you watch two people swing both swings look very similar but very different results. If you look at the body the differences may be minimal but something internal that you cannot see, like tension, causes the major difference between a good shot and a bad shot. Then there are people who do not look close to right, but internally there is lilttle or no tension, and they are so focused on the major goal, which is contact of the ball, the the end result is achieved.

The breath is of utmost importance so whichever method allows you to achieve this would be my opionon/belief.

does life have to look right on the outside or feel right on the inside?
just thoughts
seeker

#4

[QUOTE=cyclezen;7718] Would love to hear thoughts on this…

Which might be a better approach? - follow what I ‘imagine’ my posture and movement flow might be thru my ‘internal image’ of myself as I progress thru practice
or
take ‘inventory’ of my posture and movment thru my external view, as in ‘watch’ my positions and adjust as I think they might need it.[/QUOTE]

Clarification please. Are you asking in your first example about the sequence of poses and what should be where, what should follow what, or are we to assume you are already in Posture X and then the two choices you illustrate are in play?

I will assume the latter until you say otherwise.

It is not so much an internal “image” but more of an awareness at a level we shall call “cellular” (for now). How does the pose feel from the inside out. And that very sentence mandates that the awareness radiate from the bone marrow to the epidermis (which incidentally is the termination point of the nervous system).

In this way it is both an internal and external sense that guides you (in addition to your teacher who gives correction ONLY so that you may feel them in your own body and thus replicate them for yourself without intervention).

That having been said, I’m going to contradict myself here. The practice itself, Yoga, is a shifting from external reference (of who or how we are) to in internal reference. This is one of the reasons teachers cue students to not look at their neighbor or not replicate the cover of yoga journal. Who we are, as explorers of the Self, must shift from using the external as a barometer to using the internal.

When students broach the subject of being guided by their “inner teacher” my Spidey Sense starts to tingle. Often this is merely a cop-out to not listen to anyone and do their own thing which is the equivelent of hedonism, ego gratification and an undisciplined practice (and thus an undisciplined life) masked in the guise of enlightenment.

It is completely appropriate for a student who has done the work, walked the path, and cultivated an innner teacher of authenticity to trust, listen to, and rely upon that inner teacher. It is also appropriate for a yoga student to ask the opposite question of "am I merely blocking my own growth and using my “inner teacher” as the scapegoat?

These are merely general thoughts about Yoga, relative to your inquiry, and I have no idea which of them will apply directly to you, if any at all.

#5

[quote=Alix;7720]Cyclezen, do you practice by yourself or as part of a class? If you are part of a class, then it is best to do as you visualize yourself doing, and let your teacher come and correct your postures as it is difficult to do this to yourself. If you are practicing on your own, then my advice is really irrelevant and I have nothing else to offer…Sorry!
I guess I’m in the adjust the outer body to correct posture (or as close as you can get to it) so that you may achieve your full potential.
[/quote]

I do a number of classes/practices/session a wk. I’m very lucky to have 3 very distinctly different leaders who each offer a nicely different approach. But each are very attentive, considering that some of the groups are quite large. Also do some ‘practice’ at home, alone.

tubeseeker - I see your points, also being a habitual ‘observer’ myself. And breath and breathing seems to be at the core of many things - I don;t know, maybe at the core of everything important???

innerathlete - yes latter, in a pose and trying to find the right balance of inner and external approaches.
not sure I’m quite there yet at a cellular level. Pretty sure I’m not coppin out. I’m still too enthusiastically ‘newbie’ to this to fall into limitations yet. And under the threat of sounding like a Miss American contestant wishing for ‘whirled peas’ - yoga and I are at a convergence. I’ve actually been ready for it for a long time, hovering around the edges and applying some common ideas without really knowing the connection.

Thanks everyone
Hoping to see thru a few more eyes, if anyone else has comments…

#6

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

What is important is that there should be balance in the flow of your yoga and how you imagine it to be. Find the right balance and your approach will become secondary.

Good luck, hope this makes sense.

#7

Internal and external are both one and the same. Thus, try to move your awareness freely to whatever level, location, muscle, image, concept or subtlety you want, without making an imaginary distinction in your mind between out there or in here. There is no barrier, no wall in between them, no difference in nature, because both are one. So move your attention to whatever place, level or dimension feels right.