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What is your yoga level or yoga IQ?

It is only been in the recent decades that yoga has become a group thing! Yoga traditionally was practiced 1 on 1 with a master/guru while also doing your “OM” work (play on words for “home” work) on your own daily.

What defines a level in yoga? And how do you know where you fit in – in a class? Does yoga require a certain IQ, knowledge, strength or flexibility to practice? If you are new, where do you start? If you are new, it starts right here, just reading this to educate yourself on yoga and to become more aware of what defines a yogi is a practice of it’s own, it is called Svadhyaya.

Svadhyaya = “Self-Study”. It is part of the 8 limbs of yoga. So to practice any kind of self-study or research is a big part of yoga. You are here, reading this and doing Svadhyaya/self-study. Welcome to your “practice”!

Yoga is this very ambiguous zone. To say there are levels in something we “practice”, is just a guideline for western practitioners or studios to describe a class to either entice a seasoned practitioner to come to the class or detour a newbie to choose a different option.

But what really classifies a level 1, 2, 3… class? What really classifies a level of practitioner? Because someone can do a handstand? Does that make them the best yogi or highest level practitioner?

In my many years of study, teaching and practicing yoga I have learned that a handstand does not define a yoga practitioners level of expertise. It just shows that they have less fear of inverting, going upside down and the strength to do it. Which I do give kudos too… it is not my strong point! Also I am not down playing doing a handstand with intention, that is not the goal of this blog post. But handstands can be achieved by non-practicing yogis too… there are many people in the world who can do a handstand and have never been to a yoga class, right? A handstand also doesn’t define your yoga IQ or how well you know the practice of yoga or yourself, your mind-body-connection.

I once had a yoga student who practiced yoga (or so called yoga) at a local studio I worked at. He is the only person I had the pleasure (or non-pleasure in this case) to guide through a yoga practice or non-practice I should say. I swear, the more he practiced, the meaner he got! Seriously! I can’t even make this shit up! Some of you reading this know exactly who I am referring to because I wasn’t the only one to witness this. For a year or more I watched him less and less follow my lead, my guidance and my teachings to just do his own thing and his own thing was constant handstands. It didn’t matter what I said, did or taught. He would be in handstand from beginning to end. The second I would start class in childs pose he would begin to kick up! While we held Tree pose or any other standing balancing pose, he would be kicking up! During Savasana he would either get up to get water to quench his thirst so he could stay after class to do more handstands on his own or just leave class early and skip Savasana. It was constant and distracting. Many students complained, he was rude to the instructors, would only attend classes of certain instructors, even verbally made it known that he would not practice with certain yoga instructors rudely to their face. Eventually the manager of the yoga studio had to request that he back-off several times and after many attempts, she finally had to suggest that if he didn’t stop doing it then she would have to revoke his membership, after that he never returned. While this man came to the yoga studio almost 7 days per week to practice, he wasn’t practicing yoga. I hope that somewhere out there he can learn to get it, I hope he can find a place to call home and find some peace of mind that he can be in a place to learn, share and stop to smell the flowers. I do wish him well.

So if a handstand doesn’t define a level, then what does?

I have come to learn and believe that yoga is in all of us. The definition of yoga is to “Yoke or unite”. So if you try hard enough to recognize that:

I could go on forever… but I think you get my drift.

There is a yogi inside of all of us wanting to be cultivated. A need to “Yoke” or unite with the Mind – Body – Spirit and a community. To feel peace in a time of uncertainty. To feel alive in the time of a tough event in your life, a yoga posture, marathon. To have something to share, teach or give. Finding something new to learn daily and often we learn from each other. It is a connection to ourselves just waiting to be cultivated.

So to me… a high level yogi is someone who can find and practice those things listed above. And if you find all of that while in a handstand? Then you are doing a handstand for the right reason. But if you can do a handstand because for some reason it comes easy to you or because you want to fit into a category/high level? Then you are no more of a high level yogi than a beginner.

So know your “Why”? Why do you feel the need to do a handstand? How do you feel in a handstand? Honor it, become it and resist letting it define you as you honor all the yoga poses or even the thought that doing zero physical postures is still yoga. Make becoming a master of Savasana the new handstand!

Meditation, laughter, eating well, living for today and breathing can all be described as a practice of yoga. Ayurveda is a big part of achieving this.

So, given all of this… what is your level of yoga? What are your intensions and what is it you seek?

Even though Svadhyaya = Self-study, it doesn’t mean you know where to begin and have to do it all on your own! In my intro I mentioned Yoga traditionally was practiced 1 on 1 with a master/guru while also doing your “OM” work (play on words for “home” work) on your own daily. So find a guide, mentor or companion to help you along your path.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

I have several offerings to help you explore, let me know how I can help.

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