But watching Jerusha return to her Yoga mat, observing the complex body/mind dance that occurs when one approaches a familiar practise with an unfamiliar body; all this has reignited my feeling that Yoga has nothing to do with physical prowess or flexibility; Some people are naturally flexible, others not. Big deal. Some people live with health conditions and a history of injury that others can only dread. Having a limited access to Yoga postures does not bar the way to Yoga. In fact during the times when we feel fit and healthy we have a far greater tendency to become complacent and unengaged from our Yoga practise. It’s nice when it’s all easy but it doesn’t show us much.

So if being bendy isn’t exactly Yoga what is? Watching Jerusha learn to walk again I see an organism that has momentarily lost its ease, that’s all. Disturb a part (the knee) and everything is affected, until we realise that there are no parts, just like there are no ‘bits’ of ourselves. The whole is complex; an intelligence which defies description despite our trying. And yet that intelligence works whether we’re apparently ‘healthy’ or not. Each disturbance is assimilated in to the whole. What Yoga does is to enable us to be aware of how the disturbance is playing out and then actively work with it to restore a more easeful way of being.

On our various roads’ to recovery or acceptance our most insidious adversary is often the culture we live in; which is why Yoga always emphasises a healthy distance or independence from the prevailing culture whilst acknowledging that we are products of it. The right to be happy and healthy which is propagated by many of the prevailing ‘spiritual’ systems of our age actually seems to keep us always grasping for something out of reach. In reality, as human beings, we are almost certain to experience periods of pain and disease; life has a funny way of putting things in the way of us. But if we buy into the notion that there is a perfect state of physical or mental well being somewhere at the end of the rainbow then we’re tied into an impossible contract with ourselves.

Sometimes it’s just the way it is. A moment’s inattention can lead to weeks of debility. Genetics, karma or destiny (take your pick or add your own) mean that we experience illness, loss and misfortune throughout our lives, often in gross disharmony to the proportion meted out to others. It’s definitely not fair! As my anticipated holiday evaporated an inclination towards feeling sorry for myself definitely came out to say hello. I stamped my feel while Jerusha sat in the opposite corner worrying about whether her knee would ever straighten again.

It wasn’t always pretty but it was probably very human. In the end we got tired of going nowhere and rolled our Yoga mats out. On the surface of it, it didn’t help much at first. She still had a crooked knee and I still cursed reality. But in those moments I also understood Yoga in a new light. Creating the space is Yoga. Feeling the feelings is Yoga. Engaging with ourselves is Yoga. Initially it’s done on a mat because it’s good to create ideal conditions when one is nurturing a practise. But sooner or later we can take it into x-ray units and waiting rooms and trauma wards. The fact that we bend and twist and stretch is only important to the extent that we happen to live in bodies. That’s all. Happy holidays!

Andrew

• For more on the journey within the body see ‘workshops’ page.