It's Not About The Pose, It's About The Connection

“Is yoga going to make all of my hardship go away? Of course not- my life is going to be hard. But without these difficulties, I would not be who I am.” – Matthew Sanford.

Matthew Sanford is a yoga teacher in Minnisota, USA.  I first heard about Matthew Sanford while I was listening to a podcast on spirituality – it was a sound byte of him teaching a yoga class: “And then now, take your hands out straight, straight over you like you’re getting long, like you’re superman flying through the air. And then, even if you can’t do what I’m about to say it’s okay, cause I can’t do it either.”  See, Matthew Sanford is paralyzed and wheelchair bound. He’s a yoga teacher, author, renowned public speaker, and founder of a non-profit organization that is dedicated to transforming trauma, loss and disability into hope.

I needed to know more. So I found another podcast – this one called “The Body’s Grace.”  Its an interview with Krista Tippett from “On Being” and it’s Matthew’s story….and it’s truly inspiring.

At 13 years of age, he was in a car accident that killed his father and sister and left him paralyzed.  He fell asleep in the car as a 13 year old walking boy, full of innocence and vigour, and woke up in a hospital from  a coma with multiple fractures and paralyzed from the chest down.

He states that although his injury has a physical cause (spinal cord damage) his real disability at the core is an affliction of his mind-body connection. Specifically,  he doesn’t have the same “ease” of anatomical and neurological connections from his mind to his body that a walking person would have, due to the damage in his spinal cord.

He talks about how a yoga practice gave him the tools of patience, and grace in his outlook and, smoothness and balance in his physical rehabilitation.

In his healing process, he describes how the relationship to his body changed.  He had to “close the door” on the innocence and rambunctiousness of a 13 year old boy and adopt a more subtle awareness of noticing and sensing his ‘new’ body.  He says, “I’ve had to pursue  a lot of the subtler connections between mind and body. That’s the foundation of my yoga practice.  So, what ends up happening with me is that I have to go inward and LISTEN, to levels that we all share.  You have the same connections in your mind-body relationhsip that I use to do yoga, and that I use in the rest of my life…..One of the big healing things for me was to recognize that my paralyzed body didn’t stop talking to my mind, it changed its voice.  It went to a more subtle whisper, that doesn’t have as much clarity. Its sweeter, its quieter, and it doesn’t as quickly react. I try to decribe it as energetic presence.”

What resonnated with me is that everyone has experiences in life where our world changes – whether its the loss of health, the loss of a love, trauma, heart break etc…when our world changes shape, we also lose our place in it – we become disorientated and disconnected.  We may not have a spinal cord injury, but everyone can relate to feeling like their body and life is completely unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

What yoga can teach us is to how to reconnect with ourselves – by using the intention of the mind to explore the body.  In our new, changed world, it gives us the opportunity to develop a changed relationship with our body, breath, and even mind.  In times of grief, stress, and disability, it becomes harder to hear the subtle callings and quiet sweet whispers within ourselves.  If we become silent and we listen and we begin (with baby steps) to form a connection between the intention we create in our mind and the sensation it brings to our body…mind-body connection.  Whether you can stand on your head, or balance on your arms, or practice yoga in a wheelchair – it doesn’t matter… yoga is approaching your life with non-violence and compassion and meeting yourself exactly where you are. Perhaps, this breeds acceptance of your changed experience….and from there, even a new relationship to hope.

Incidentally, Matthew observes that as his students form a stronger mind-body connection, their compassion for themselves and for humanity increases.  Once you begin to connect your mind and body in a mutually supportive way, it becomes easier to see the humanness in all situations and people.

So, in your experience, know that your mind hasn’t stopped talking to your body – it may have just changed it’s voice.  Be silent and listen to the subtle whispers that are guiding your through each new moment.