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Shocker.. Yoga is not and should not be about flexibility
Shocker.. Yoga is not and should not be about flexibility.
Yoga is not about flexibility! When most people think of yoga, they picture someone gracefully folding into a pretzel shape or balancing effortlessly on one leg.
Social media doesn’t help — it’s full of perfectly lit and staged photos of advanced poses.
But here’s the truth: yoga was never about touching your toes.
Yoga has always been about connection — a journey inward through the different layers of who we are.
The Upanishads talk to the Five Koshas or Layers of the Self with each layer or Kosha representing a different aspect of our being, from the most tangible to the most subtle.
For many the draw to Yoga is often about the physical.
The Annamaya Kosha in this system represents The Physical Body and is the outermost layer.
It’s the body you can touch, stretch, and strengthen through asana (postures).
But while asana helps us care for this kosha, it’s not the destination.
It’s just the doorway into our Energetic Body (Pranamaya Kosha) where through breath practices and mindful movement, we learn to sense the flow of energy in the body, noticing where it’s vibrant and where it sometimes feels a bit stuck.
This may help us to step further inward to our Mental Body (Manomaya Kosha) which is the realm of thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences — the mind that chatters, reacts, and interprets.
Meditation and mindfulness help quiet this layer, allowing us to see beyond the constant stream of mental noise.
In this kosha, yoga becomes less about stretching muscles and more about unraveling patterns of thought and emotion.
Entering the Wisdom Body, where we build intuition and insights this layer brings discernment: the ability to see truth from illusion, and to make choices aligned with our higher self.
Finally we come to the The Bliss Body, which lies at the centre of these layers.
It’s not the fleeting happiness that comes from external things, but a quiet, subtle and radiant joy that arises when we rest in our true nature, union and wholeness.
Whilst flexibility might help you move with ease it is in no way a measure of your yogic depths and capabilities.
Someone could touch their toes and still be disconnected from themselves.
Another person might struggle to sit cross-legged but be deeply in tune with their breath, mind, and heart.
When we step into a practice of Yoga it’s asking ‘can we be present? can we breathe through discomfort? Can you meet yourself with compassion?’
The true flexibility in this sense is mental and emotional and our ability to stay centered amid life’s changes, to soften the rigid patterns that cause suffering, and to open the heart.
Spoiler Alert The postures are tools to access the deeper layers!
The beauty of yoga is that it meets you exactly where you are — tight hamstrings, racing mind, messy emotions and all.
If we can commit to this lifelong practice we might find that our body becomes a friend, not an obstacle, the breath becomes a guide, not an afterthought, and the mind becomes an ally, not an enemy.
