In my second ever art class, my instructor came up behind me, took one glance at the figure I was constructing, and declared, "We need to have a conversation."
My primary offense? Copying shape instead of exploring gesture.
When we copy a figure, said my teacher, we neglect to really see it. We put down lines based on a stored memory of a similar shape. We think "triangle" and draw memories of a thousand other triangles -- instead of drawing the wholly unique triangle that's right in front of us. And we lose the entire point of art -- process. Discovery.
Once my ego got over the sting of his critique, I saw how apt the advice really was --not just in relation to art, but to yoga as well.
How often during practice do we desperately attempt to contort ourselves into a vision of what a pose "should" look like? We've stamped in our minds a certain Yoga Journal cover or an admired teacher's version of the pose, so we focus our energy on copying that shape -- like we're only doing it "right" if we're doing it like someone else.
When that happens, we stop enjoying the process of exploring. We no longer care to see what happens if we move our front foot out to the side in Warrior I, or tip our weight to our heels in Down Dog. Our own bodies cease to hold interest as anything other than a barometer of comparison to someone else's version of perfect.
No matter what, you're gonna need to alter the pose and make it cleaner or more clear for you to understand.... You're not copying. That's a very important aspect. You don't copy what's in front of you. You take it in, you interpret it, and you put it back on the paper, as your interpretation, to help clarify.... you're adding to what is there.
- from Gesture Drawing with Mark McDonnell
When you practice yoga, you're using your energy, your body, your breath to create something that's never before existed. And you allow for constant change, because it's from that place of continuous conscious movement that growth occurs.
The process of finding and refining, searching and adjusting tenders potential. So when you stop copying and start discovering, you begin to spend your mat time not just as a yogi -- but as a living work of art.
