Poking the Yogi Bear: What is Vulnerability?
Yoga is often the first thing recommended as a form of exercise that can help someone manage anxiety and depression. Yoga brings an awareness to the body and requires focus that feels calming. Some types of yoga do not bring the heart rate up to a degree that can feel too intense for people working through trauma.
Some people need to sit still, but some people need to MOVE. Repressed rage and anger can be best released through activities that are indeed intense. Y’know, like the kinds of activities I love: hitting things and hitting them hard.
Yoga is often understood as a practice of vulnerability. But are you practicing vulnerability if you immerse yourself in yoga because this is where you feel most comfortable?
In February 2023, I facilitated a workshop for BIPOC and queer women of colour.
It was an incredible event put on by our Pilates specialist, Tai, in partnership with lululemon.
Several facilitators shared their practice and many of them had a background in yoga.
In my workshop, I guided participants through a series of combat movements that included the fighting stance and a focus on the upper body through punches and elbows.
Coach Tai strikes the pad with an elbow. Photo credit: Keemya Parsa.
Unsurprisingly, the participants moved comfortably through their yoga practices and demonstrations, but were visibly uncomfortable when participating in my workshop where the movements were focused on preparing oneself to fight.
When throwing a punch or even taking a fighter’s posture and position, you need to shift your energy to the opposite of what yoga stands for. Where yoga may ask you to open yourself up to vulnerability and embrace it, when you’re in a fighting stance, you need to hide your vulnerabilities and protect yourself. You cannot allow yourself to sink into a state where you are open to everything.
When you throw punches and strikes, you need to make yourself bigger and commit to each blow with intention and confidence. You need to “take up space” in a whole new way.
Coach FLG demonstrates a punch. Photo credit: Keemya Parsa.
One participant privately shared that my workshop made her very emotional because of the energy she felt in her body when throwing punches; it made her feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. The yoga poses she moved through earlier were within her comfort zone.
The practice of yoga that combines mindfulness, breathwork, flexibility, and isometric training is important and integral, but it’s not the only practice that can raise one’s consciousness, self-awareness, wellness, and overall health.
Coach FLG speaks to the participants. Photo credit: Keemya Parsa.
