Love Yoga Anatomy - Ashtanga: Aging and Fatigue

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Ashtanga: Aging and Fatigue
Posted On February 23, 2014 9 Comments
By Chad Herst
A friend within the Ashtanga community recently reached out to me because she
has been struggling to nd a way into her practice such that it supports her
fatigue and depression. She wrote, I have had chronic fatigue for many years,
and used to nd my practice helpful with my energy levels, but lately, Ive been
struggling with the intensity of the practice And now that Im in my mid-40s, Ive
been asking myself, How am I going to maintain this? I have the sense that
many practitioners within our tradition silently struggle with these very issues:
fatigue and how to maintain the practice as we age or as life changes on us, like
when we have kids. And I do not believe that our teaching community adequately
speaks to these issues.
Often the instruction students receive is, Keep practicing. It will change. And so
many fatigued and frustrated Ashtangis just keep doing the same practice over
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Love Yoga Anatomy | Ashtanga: Aging and Fatigue http://loveyogaanatomy.com/ashtanga-aging-and-fatigue/
1 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
and over hoping for a di!erent outcome. Many, however, quit. Ashtanga is a
powerfully transformative practice, and there can be an ethos within the
community that is relatively unforgiving. There doesnt happen to be a lot of
space for those who need to deviate from the standard practice. It is not
uncommon for students to essentially get the message: You either do it the way
its taught in Mysore, or youre not welcome in this room.
Many within the tradition we come from, unfortunately, promote the notion that we
should be able to maintain a vigorous practice no matter what stage of
development were in, no matter how healthy or unhealthy we are. And thats just
not a viable, life-long approach to practice. Ashtanga Yogis that are lifers, so-to-
speak, do not keep practicing the same way. As we change, so does our
practice. The practice that suited me in my early 20s, for example, no longer ts
for me in my 40s. A mature perspective on practice recognizes that yoga should
support our health and well-being no matter where we are in life.
Balls-to-the-Wall in Our 20s and Early-30s
When I rst started learning the practice, I was 19 years old, so it helped me
immensely to have a place to direct all of my energies, both positive and not so
positive. Without it those anxious times might have been met with a lot more
self-destructive patterns, like drinking, drugs, and self-loathing. Having the
structure to get up early each morning, to show up on that mat and practice
strongly each day was the perfect solution for all that anxiety, self-doubt, and
agitation that seemed to be central to my 20s and early 30s. But as Ive gotten
older, practicing like that zaps me.
Sustaining our Energy in Our 40s
Ive recently stopped practicing Advanced A. I nd that it stresses me out
physically and emotionally. As I transition into my early 40s, I notice that all of the
arm balances make my neck, shoulders, and upper-back ache and tax my
energy. I am at the stage of life where I want to have enough energy to give to my
wife, our family, my clients, and my community, and it is a lot to manage. At some
point in the last few years I woke up to the fact that I did not want to keep giving
all my energy to my practice. I wanted my practice to be able to support me, to
support my life, to support my pursuits.
2 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
I especially dont push it when I have an injury, am sick, or dont get enough
sleep. Melissa, my wife was up all night with the u last week, which meant that I
was up, too. When I got on my mat the next morning, my head was spinning. I
wasnt sure if I was coming down with the u, myself. So after the Ashtanga
Invocation, instead of starting Suryanamaskar A, all I had the energy to do was to
take padmasana; do ujjayi pranayama for about 30 minutes; and then take a
45-minute savasana. Yep, that was my practice. And, yes, I still consider that
Ashtanga Yoga. I did not, in fact, get sick. I had eight clients that day, and had I
not taken care of myself, I would have been a mess.
Practicing into Our 50s and Beyond
It is my sense that the practice continues to evolve as we get older. When I was
in Mysore in 2005, I was told that someone I was practicing with in the shala in his
mid-50s was taking anti-inammatory drugs in order to continue practicing
Advanced A and B. His practice looked quite acrobatic for someone his age, but
was that practice supporting him or was he supporting it? Whats clear to me is
that as the body evolves, so should we.
Sri T. Krishnamacharya, Pattabhi Jois teacher, divided yoga practice into various
categories, called krama, which means a step used to achieve a particular goal.
As we get older, our orientation moves from athletic perfection (siksasana krama)
to maintaining our health and preserving our youth (raksasana krama). Eventually,
our orientation moves to adhyamatya krama, or spiritual matters. (1) We tend to
move our practice in this direction in the time of life we in the West tend of think of
as retirement. It occurs in our culture when we are in our late-50s, 60s or 70s.
3 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
Our focus turns toward questions about the meaning of life. And so the
orientation is less in the way of getting and staying strong and exible in the body.
I am not suggesting that it is unimportant to maintain health and vitality as we age,
but that the late-50s onward are about developing wisdom, and that comes
about primarily through stillness practices, like meditation. (2)
I cannot personally speak about this stage of development because I am not
there. I do know several Ashtanga practitioners in their late-50s and 60s who do
not keep the same practice they kept when they were in their 20s, 30s, and 40s,
but theyre not very public about how their practices have changed; in fact, about
a year ago, I asked an old friend who has been practicing since the 70s if he
would be willing to be interviewed for this very question, but he declined. He did
not want to expose himself to criticism. I completely understand his perspective.
When someone speaks about altering the practice to even the slightest degree,
some people who have elected themselves to be the yoga police within the
community launch in with vitriolic abuse. Nevertheless, I do sense that it would be
very healing for all of us to learn how our teachers and mentors evolved their
practices to account for the physical, emotional, and spiritual changes that occur
with aging.
How to Modify the Practice to Meet Your Personal Needs
As far as I can tell you can take the practice were taught and break it into
component parts that support you energetically and spiritually. Maybe one day
you skip all jump-backs and jump-throughs to prevent fatigue from setting in.
Maybe on another, you practice only a few postures paying particular attention to
your breath and bandhas and only go as far as you can keep your attention.
When you notice it agging, you stop. Maybe on another day, you wake up feeling
ungrounded, so you just do the standing sequence, holding each posture for
10-20 breaths. Or maybe the mood needs lifting, so you focus on back bending,
chest openers, and emphasize inhales and inhale retentions. The variations are
endless. Whats required is the willingness to take the dive, to experiment.
Yes, it can be helpful to have a teacher who has already walked down this path,
someone who can show you the way, and it can also be extremely helpful to have
a place with group support where your experimentation is welcome, but there are
4 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
not many Mysore rooms or teachers that are ready for students to experiment or
alter the practice, not yet, at least. So you have to be willing to develop a home
practice and then also be equally willing to take risks, read a lot, and just keep
showing up on your mat with curiosity.
Trusting the Need to Evolve
In closing, I recently heard about this experiment called the Asch Paradigm where
they put 10 people in a room. 9 of the people were shills. 1 was not. They
showed all 10 cards with lines of di!erent lengths. Two of the lines were clearly of
equal length (Exhibit 1 and B) while the other two (A and C) were not.
The researchers asked the nine shills to claim that two badly mismatched lines (B
and C) were actually the same, and that the actual twins (Exhibit 1 and A) were
total mists. The one person who was not a shill almost always went along with
the other 9 members. Why? When they quizzed the victims of peer pressure, it
turned out that many had done far more than simply go along to get along. They
had actually shaped their perceptions, not with the reality in front of them, but with
the consensus of the multitude. (3)
In short, what Im suggesting is that it is not weird or unusual to experience fatigue
from the practice; in fact, it is pretty common. My question to the reader is
whether you have the guts to trust your own intuitive sense when something is o!
and nd an approach that supports your well-being and that sustains you. That
can be a huge challenge, especially if youre used to the support of the Mysore
room to carry your practice as well as the support of a teacher and friends who
5 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
share a mutual love for the system. Its hard not only to stand on your own, but to
trust your innate knowing when everyone around you is telling you that youre
crazy but, in fact, youre not.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) So for example, B.K.S. Iyengar reported that In 1978, after my 60 birthday
celebration, my guru (Sri T. Krishnamacharya) advised me to devote time to
meditation and to reduce my physical strain. (Iyengar, B.K.S., Astadala Yogamala.
New Delhi: Allied Publishers Limited. 2001)
(2) Im not suggestion just because one has reached a certain age, they should
stop doing the Ashtanga series. If someone has the inclination, time, and energy
to devote to progressing through the series and theyre no longer young, by all
means, I think it is important to follow that urge. It can be incredibly life a"rming to
practice advanced postures and to push the limits on whats possible in this
human form.
Author: Chad Herst
View Prole
Visit Chads Website:
http://www.herstwellness.com
Chad Herst rst became hooked
on the the practice on a hot and
humid Maui summer morning in
1993 when David Williams
introduced him to his rst Sun
Salutation. One year later, he
boarded a plane at the age of 20 to meet his primary teacher, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.
He received Jois blessing to teach Ashtanga and has been doing so since 1998.
In addition to teaching yoga, Chad is life coach and acupuncturist in San
Francisco.
th
6 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
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Here are other articles by Chad that are posted on this site:
The So-Called Tradition of Ashtanga
March 18, 2013
By Chad Herst I have noticed that as the Mysore-style Ashtanga
method becomes more popular over the years, the individual
connection between teacher and student is disintegrating. The
practice, which was originally designed to be individualized, has
become increasingly supplanted by a one-size-ts-all approach. This
is a natural outgrowth as more and more people both learn and ...

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9 Responses to Ashtanga: Aging and Fatigue
w says:
February 23, 2014 at 10:20 pm
Chad, thanks for this article. I am 61 years old and practicing 3 days a
week. It has taken me a long time to get here as I had illness and fatigue.
This feels like it supports my health rather than depletes it. Maybe I will
get to 4 days a week occasionally..
Carmela says:
February 24, 2014 at 12:47 am
Hi Chad, thankyou so much for writing this article. I have been an
Ashtanga Yoga practitioner since 1997 and teaching since 2000. My
practice has denitely evolved over the last 4 years. I am 44 now and
have had to make modications to my practice depending on how my
body is feeling and aging. I am fortunate enough to have my teacher who
is in her 50#s experience the same, so having support and guidance
certainly helps. I am fortunate to also teach and pass on my experience
7 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
to my students, giving them modication when needed. I do feel there is
a shift happening around the traditional Ashtanga asana practice. Not
every BODY is designed to contort themselves into some of those
advanced postures and we need to be open and accepting of that. The
commitment and dedication to the practice is not only about asana, there
are so many other facets to explore and en JOY. NAMASTE
Heike Katharina says:
April 13, 2014 at 11:36 am
I only started my practice in my early 40s and it felt great to get exible
and strong as never before in my life. For quite some years I practiced
vigorously though probably never like a twenty year old would and it
felt good. Now I am in my mid 50s and yes my practice changed also
due to menopause. There is not a lot of public talk about this either. I tried
Hormon Yoga but not fullhearted because it didnt feel right. I do love my
ashtanga practice and I felt that this practice can as well support these
years of a woman. So I started experimenting and yes some mornings its
only the standing postures and some nishing asanas but it feels good to
keep connected to the practice. Also the breath became even more
important to me as did Chanting. Interestingly enough practicing this way I
am not only counterbalancing the e!ects of ageing but still keep
progressing in the practice at my very own pace and that feels wonderful.
Chad Herst says:
May 8, 2014 at 8:12 pm
Hi Heike, It sounds like you are nding your way, taking the
essence of the practice and modifying it for your
circumstances. And in so doing, it seems that youre still
discovering progress. Bravo!
yogasanas says:
May 7, 2014 at 11:27 pm
8 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
Hi Chad, I think you are spot on. I practiced from 99 at age 35 to 2013
age 48 up to 4th series kapilasana. I had to quit all postures last year after
3- 4 years of trying to manage the resultant low back pain. Essentially, my
back is mangled for life now. Good news is I have a better sitting and
pranayama practice than ever. Letting go of the postures has been very
hard and I have gone through (and then back again and again) all of
Kubler Rosss stages: denial, bargaining, anger, depression and
acceptance. Thanks for putting out there the reality for some of us who in
good faith followed these teachings fastidiously for many, many years.
Chad Herst says:
May 8, 2014 at 8:23 pm
Wow, yogasanas, my heart goes out to you. It must really be
something to have progressed so far and then to have to
come to the point where you have to drop it altogether. That
sounds painful, physically and emotionally. But it also sounds
like injury is opening up a doorway for you. Not only are you
connected to the essence of the practice, breath and
stillness, but youre also learning the art of dying, which is
essentially, the art of letting go of all the ways we become ego
identied. It must be really challenging to have made it all the
way to 4th series and then to have to drop it. We cant help
but wear the series on our sleeves like a badge of honor. And
yet the real work, as you acknowledge, is letting go. Hats o!
to you, my friend.
9 of 15 2014-05-09, 12:44 AM
Nicolas says:
May 8, 2014 at 2:55 pm
Hi, Im 38 , and I started my practice at 33, the practice have helped me
to have exibility and feel vigorous ! But I think its important what to do
out of your mat, I mean .. Food ! Good sleep !, practice its important but
if you wanna feel an integral benets you should be care what you eat
and sleep good. Im 38 and I feel like if I was 28 years
yogamom says:
May 8, 2014 at 3:48 pm
as someone practicing the seventh series i appreciate the perspective
on modied practice. just a pointer on the Asch paradigm though. the
way you describe it sounds unbelievable, as though the study
participants reported that B and C were the same length as each other.
that is not what the studies showed. the task was to nd the line from
exhibit 2 that matched the line in exhibit 1. so even though A is the right
match, the shills were saying that B matched exhibit 1, or that C
matched exhibit 1 (not that B and C were the same length, which is
obviously false since they are right next to each other). it still makes your
point, but isnt so crazy to believe! also its important that before giving the
wrong answers to mislead the participants, the shills rst gave the
correct answers for a while, to build the necessary trust.
Chad Herst says:
May 8, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Thank you, yoga mom, for that clarication.
Get involved, we'd love to hear what you think.
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