Is It Considered A Ritual If I Suck At It?

Based on the article by Nevrin, How might your practice be analyzed as a "ritual"? How does this ritual function to change the nature, impact or intensity of your practice experience? 

This week we're talking about ritual, not the ritual space but the actual ritual. What happens when I step on the mat.

When I practice at Yoga Nine, we start and end with Savasana, which (to me) involves laying down and gaining control of my breath. This is something that beings and ends every practice I begin. Sometimes before I go to yoga, I am not mentally prepared. Sometimes, I'd rather curl underneath my blanket and sleep in... but I go. This few minutes of relaxation allows myself to get out of my head and focus into the rest of my body. This prepares me for my practice

It is also important to notice that the first 2 or 3 poses are done in repetition. This is done to open that specific body region that will be focused on during the practice.

We then do a series. We repeat some poses in a sequence around 3 times. The first time the pose is extremely hard and I am usually in pain. I adjust.. or am adjusted accordingly. The second time, I notice my mistakes and work on them in the posture. By the third rotation, I get a huge grin on my face when my instructor yells "Yes! That's it!".  This pose repetition makes me work harder each time. I'm new at yoga, and sometimes I don't know the exact directions that are being yelled out in front of the class. I look to other people for guidance. By the end of the third rotation through posters I remember what I am supposed to do and how my body is.

I guess what you can conclude from my rambling is this: my ritual is repetition. Sometimes my ritual makes me feel weak because I know I cannot do a full downwards dog or I am the only person in the room who takes a sip of water. But my ritual is mine. My ritual makes me stronger. Everyone's practice is different because we all facing our practice in different bodies.

I sweat during my practice. A sign that my body is working too hard. Perhaps my body needs to work harder now in order to work more efficiently later.