This is a short blog about Functional Yoga. I began learning more about functional yoga when I attended Paul and Suzee Grilley’s Yin yoga teacher training program in May 2019. I was so impressed with the training session and their approach to yoga I plan to complete the next two units in 2020 and 2021.
Their functional approach not only applies to Yin yoga but also any style of yang yoga as well. Paul’s belief is that once a yogi understands their anatomical differences in bones and fascia they will begin to understand how these variations effect the movement of the joints. When this happens a yogi is able to get into a pose best suited to their anatomies while still working the target area.
One of their sutras in our yin yoga training was:
“In a functional approach to yoga, there is no such thing as a perfect pose. Every hand and foot position either helps or inhibits your ability to stress the target areas. The most effective way to do this varies from person to person.”
This approach is much different from my first yoga training in 2012. Our focus was on alignment where everyone would do the pose in the exact same way. As a yogi we strive to get our bodies into a pose that looks like the picture in a book or based on a person who’s bone structure enables them to bring their legs behind their head. I’ve been practicing for almost 20 years and I know I will never be able to get my legs behind my head, nor will I ever be able to pull myself up into a wheel pose from the floor. The wheel pose became a bit of an obsession with me. I would see my fellow yogis easily get into the pose so why couldn’t I do it. I took private lessons in Bali with a senior teacher hoping she would be able to help me. We used the blocks and did various exercises to warm the body up, but I still could not do it. When I went for training with Paul it became clear that based on my bone structure I would probably never be able to get into wheel, I just don’t have that mobility in my shoulders. I’ve always had issues with my shoulders which has improved substantially over the years, thanks to yoga, but at some point when you work through the tension in your body and bone meets bone you will never be able to go any further than that.
I do believe yoga is about getting in touch with your true nature, understanding yourself, your body and accepting the way you are. We are all unique so instead of trying to change ourselves into something that is not unique to us we should focus our efforts on doing a pose based on the functional approach, when we do this our practice becomes much more enriched and the physical, mental and emotional benefits are much greater.