The potential drawbacks
Although Astanga yoga can
bring tremendous benefits, it also poses some difficulties and risks. Learning
to do some of the more complicated postures can bring a great sense of
accomplishment; but the flip side of the coin is that, if you feel that you’re
not “progressing” quickly enough. you may suffer feelings of obsessiveness and
self-
Whether this is a necessary part of the
process for some people or an avoidable side effect, I am not sure. However, it
is important to know that there is nothing in yogic practice that condones
obsessive or excessive practice. If you find that you are putting yourself
through pain in order to get into a posture, or you are berating yourself for
not being “good enough” at yoga. perhaps it is time to stop and re-think your
approach.
If your Astanga yoga
practice leads to side effects such as irrational outbursts of anger, fear or
aggression (these can be common when you start any intense form of yoga),
modify and soften your practice. Use the modifications to the postures that I
suggest (see Chapter 4) and limit your use of the bo.ndhas (see page 35) which
can over-stimulate your energetic system.
The eminent yoga scholar
Georg Feuerstein has said that “Narcissism is as great a danger among
Hatha-yogins as it is among bodybuilders.” If we don’t practice Astanga yoga
with care we may end up with inflated, rather than transcended, egos. The
purpose of all forms of practice is to increase awareness to the point of a
direct experience or an understanding of ultimate reality. We should be wary of
deluding ourselves on this journey as there may be many pitfalls along the way.
