In a Bind

A while ago I was reading the book ‘The Noise of Time’ by Julian Barnes, which recounts and imagines the personal history of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich under the rule of Stalin in the Soviet Union, from the composer’s point of view (It’s a beautiful book and you should read it). Shostakovich’s music was greatly influenced by his relationship to the Soviet Party as he was constantly under pressure to produce ‘Soviet music’. He was hailed, then shamed and criticized, then hailed again, and was often afraid for his life and the lives of his family, friends, and colleagues. It made me think, as I was listening to his music, and wonder what kind of music he would have produced if it weren't for his political circumstances. I asked my husband, who is a musician, if he thinks we ended up with a ‘lesser version’ of Shostakovich, since he was so bound and closely observed by the powers in government. Mickey said he thinks that it’s exactly his confinement that made him so exceptional. In other words, he had to find ingenious ways to express his personal emotional self, and sometimes his dissent while keeping within the limits what was deemed acceptable. This made him creative, subversive, sarcastic, and infinitely interesting. His bind fueled his creativity.

What’s it got to do with yoga? Well, I was thinking about binds this week. Binds are interesting because in many cases they are hard to achieve, so they are sometimes mistaken as a ‘goal’ in practice. For example binding your arms in Parsvokonasana (side angle pose) requires long arms and shoulder flexibility, but once we have the closed loop in the bind, we can use the arms to pull with and attain lightness in the chest. A proper bind creates a container in which to grow our understanding of a pose and expand into it. The bind seals the outer boundaries to facilitate more awareness within and around the actions we are seeking access to. It’s as though a bind presents a puzzle: here is the defined shape, a certain closed position of the body. How can we still access the actions, that in many cases are contrary to the position, or shape? So a bind limits, but also opens up a doorway towards more freedom. Should we think of a bind in terms of shackles, weighing down our pose, or perhaps it’s better to consider it as something we can use to propel up and out? I tell my students that a bind is a tool towards a better understanding, and a stepping stone in their practice, not to be mistaken for the goal of the practice. The moment you ‘close the loop’ between the hands, like closing an electrical circuit, you can then reach for the turning of the arms, the lifting of the chest, the twisting, the lengthening, etc, according to the pose. More than a close, it’s a seal. 

So from music, to yoga asana, to my professional and personal life, if I follow my own thread, how can I find freedom in my own personal binds? Lately I’ve been experiencing a bind in my life and as I realized this limitedness I revolted agains it. in October I left the yoga studio where I worked for years, and since I had signed a non-compete agreement there I could not simply move to a different studio around town. I have to stay outside of a certain milage radius. I got frustrated of course, and wished the bind was not there. Sadly, wishing something away is not the way out of a bind. If it were, I would not have a mortgage or an injured neck… So being frustrated with it got me thinking about how I can work while still under these terms. My initial instinct was just to mope and wait around. But then I sat down with a teacher friend and she challenged me to set up some goals for myself and follow them through. She wanted me to imagine what I could do right now to advance my teaching. That was a good push for me. First, I realized there were some things I was now free to do that I couldn’t do before since I was busy working at the studio.  I started reaching out to people I would have otherwise been shy or reluctant to approach. I also set up some new avenues for my teaching - more private classes, more online content, more studying and preparing. I used this extra time that I have to study more and write more. Not bad things at all, and I would not have done them if I were still working at my former capacity. There are some other things brewing too, some collaborations, workshops and retreats, none of which would have even been considered if I hadn’t been hard pressed to come up with them. So - I found some creativity through my bound circumstances, and I am grateful. 

Let me know about your binds, and whether you were able to turn them into tools.