Designing the content of yoga exercises
Yoga exercises are very well-known, popular and modern today. There are many courses with different focuses, whereby the health-promoting value of yoga exercises is particularly praised and appreciated.
Regardless of the well-known positive aspects of yoga practice, I would like to take a somewhat unusual look at the exercises, namely at their "creative" value and the great importance of "content".
The word creative comes from the Latin word creare and means to create, to shape, to be creative. In the yoga exercise, the practitioner can become creatively active by creating and shaping a body form and a special expression. This creative, formative, creative activity is of great value to the human being in its many-layered contexts. When a person consciously shapes something, creates a visible form from an idea, they become mentally active and lively, which in turn comes back to them as a constructive force and enriches their thoughts and feelings
For example, if someone wants to draw a particular plant and looks at it and studies it until they can perceive and recognize its characteristic appearance and nature more and more and finally put it on paper, this requires great attention, differentiated perception, repeated looking, good imagination and empathy as well as patience, perseverance and practice.
The draughtsman finally realizes how, by turning his attention intensively to the plant which was previously rather foreign to him, has now become better acquainted with it. He has created something new created a relationship and, in the form of the drawing, finally brought it to expression through into an expression through his own activity. He can now experience that through his new perceptions and sensations.
In yoga practice, as I have come to know it and use it in yoga classes, it is similar: you practise, study the exercise, its form of movement, its specific characteristics and its spiritual meaning, turn to it again and again and gradually bring out this body form and its corresponding expression more and more.
The yoga exercise is not just an exercise to work through certain areas of the body, such as the abdominal muscles or legs, or to immerse yourself in a state of calm or activate a specific energy flow, but it is a way of becoming creative, i.e. active in a formative way, and becoming aware of your own creative power. This has a further effect on everyday life, because you discover that you can explore everything in life much more deeply and then shape and form it more actively. You learn that the power to create something frees you from habits and entrenched structures, from expectations or manipulative influences.
Finally, you discover the value of content, because without content and a clear idea, your work remains empty. What, which idea do you want to develop? - This question arises immediately. The word "content" expresses this directly. The content fills the outer form. The content gives rise to a content-rich discussion and an expressive result. Ideally, you should not start from your previously accumulated, familiar thought processes, but rather choose objective content that you can put in front of your soul as if it were new and that enables you to learn.
To stimulate the content, you need good texts that are meaningful or even full of wisdom and universally valid, as this allows the imagination to build up to the yoga exercise in a more concentrated way. The mind can focus on the essential connections and not get lost in fantasies or subjectivity. The term "universally valid" can be understood to mean that the content describes both a logic inherent in the yoga exercise and a law of life.
Heinz Grill's descriptions (e.g. The Soul Dimension of Yoga or The Free Breath) are outstanding and unique in this respect. These contents lead to a very harmonious and aesthetic expression of the exercise, an order in the life of the soul and stimulation of development potential. Heinz Grill has developed this approach to yoga exercises in detail over more than 40 years of research and teaching and has made it available to interested people in extensive literature.
I would like to present a few examples of this here:
Starting from a content - a certain idea of movement or a mental reference - the practitioner shapes the body, transforming the content into physical form.
The scales
From a technical point of view, the balance requires skill and balance as well as stability in the legs, hips and torso with simultaneous lightness. It requires these qualities and at the same time promotes them because the practitioner has to apply them.
From a visual point of view, the balance shows the horizontal movement sliding out as if infinitely. Here, attention can be drawn to the relationship between the upper body and legs. First, the body is straightened, the supporting leg is stable and calm and then the other leg is actively lifted and carried backwards horizontally. The upper body with the arms is inserted forward into the horizontal line and remains as light as possible. From the center of the upper body, the movement moves forward in both directions over the fingers and backwards over the foot without becoming rigidly fixed.
Physical content: leg very actively carried backwards - upper body and arms as light as possible
Mental content: the infinite horizontal line, into which the body fits tightly and easily
The triangle
The triangle is a sideways bend in which the flanks are extended. The experience of width characterizes this movement. The careful division into relaxation in the shoulder-arm area, dynamism from the middle of the upper body and a calm stance is an important basis for experiencing width. Starting from this basic order, the practitioner directs their attention to the wide,
surrounding space and, as if motivated by this space, carries the upper body out into this expanse with the arms. The chest and breathing space also expand.
The triangle expresses the basic emotional need for activity and establishing relationships with the outside world and, from this perspective, gives confidence and courage to act.
Physical content: division into three areas and perception of space
Mental content: the expanse as a result of outwardly directed activity and relationship building
The tree
The tree is a balancing pose that promotes calm and concentration.
The shape of the exercise itself is very different from the triangle: the triangle expresses the expanse of activity and the tree the concentration towards the heart center.
One characteristic of the heart center, for example, is the high level of activity to create a balance between inner feelings and outer necessities. Based on this contextual connection, the tree can be used to focus attention both on the surrounding space and on the center of the heart. While the body rests in alert balance, the attention remains in these two "places": outside in the surrounding space and inside in the center, combined with the idea that this expresses a spiritual law: the developed heart center enables the balance between these two opposing worlds, which are often not easy to reconcile in everyday life.
Physical content: upright, alert to the outside, heart area as center through the hand gesture
Mental content: the heart center as a place of balance between inner feelings and outer necessities
The shoulder stand
In the shoulder stand, the movement flows upwards from the heart area and a centering in the upper thoracic spine into the legs. The head, neck, shoulders and upper arms form the relaxed base for the gentle dynamic flowing upwards from the heart. The eyes remain open and follow the movement upwards.
It is a dynamic, light movement that is not strict and form-focused in an athletic way, but is built up as if balancing upwards. It expresses the flow of life forces, like a plant that effortlessly rises against gravity and carries its blossom upwards in a light, floating manner.
Physical content: Chest/heart region forms the center from which the movement flows upwards
Mental content: the flow of life forces
The head-knee position
The head-knee position is developed from a structured use of the will. You don't bend forward with a generalized, compact total body effort, but rather the dynamic longitudinal extension is released specifically from the solar plexus (middle of the body, 10th-12th thoracic vertebrae) with the shoulders relaxed and the head held free. The upper body is not simply pressed down, but lifted far forward over the legs. Awareness of space also plays a major role here: if your attention is in the freer sphere of space and you remain aware of the middle of your back as the center of the movement, you can let go of your body a little for a moment, gather the fullness of your strength in the center and then grasp and shape it with real enthusiasm.
Physical content: Tension + longitudinal stretch from the solar plexus with a relaxed shoulder region
Mental content: structured use of will leads to a freer experience and joy of use
The rotated head-knee position
In the rotated head-knee pose, the practitioner leaves the downward, body-oriented form and opens outwards with a sensitive experience.
The classic head-kneeling pose expresses the active turning towards the body, while the twisted version expresses more the sensitivity of outwardly oriented perception. The rotation into the sideways opening is very centered from the middle of the spine. However, it is very important that a lengthening upwards to the collarbones and further up to the crown of the head is achieved.
Physical content: centered movement approach from the middle of the back and straightening up to the collarbones
Mental content: sensitive, receptive outward experience
To be or to have?
There is a big difference between practising actively, with inner involvement, imagination, searching observations and determination, and practising passively, imitating, waiting and therefore consuming.
Erich Fromm's distinction between having and being is also very interesting. You can practice more in the form of having or more in the sense of being.
A similar division of sat (being) and asat (non-being) also appears in the Bhagavad Gita, which can also be explored in comparison with the practice examples.
The creative activity is perceptive with the use of consciousness and is formed from a lively relationship with the object. It requires not only physical activity, but above all mental, thinking and feeling activity. In the long term, it strengthens the personality and brings a quiet, fulfilling joy.
The creative principle starts from an idea, i.e. a mental conception, and is brought to a visible expression with the body so that something new is added. One does not practise in dependence on already accumulated experiences or momentary moods, but from the object reference. This stimulates the power of self-activity, self-determination, guidance of circumstances, etc.
A yoga practice is usually thought of in reverse, in the sense that the body and subsequently the soul and spirit are favorably addressed starting from the exercise. In the way described here, it starts from the mind and develops through the activity of the soul to the physical end result.
What is the value?
The creative exercise method, based on selected content, is of great value for physical and mental health and the development of the soul's powers. Social skills and an understanding of universal connections can also mature.
Describing the other effects in more detail would be too long for this overview, and besides, I am still researching things myself and trying to understand them bit by bit. But I would be delighted if what I have described so far inspires you to think a little further yourself and discover existing connections.
Reading tip: The soul dimension of yoga, Heinz Grill, Stephan Wunderlich Verlag
Petra Himmel
October 2024
Turned head-knee pose,
drawn from the book The Soul Dimension of Yoga