A favorite teacher of mine has an article called “Dismantling the Armor” that I read once a year or so. Here’s an excerpt:
“Like the armadillo, we are clad in a protective cloak of armor that clings to our bones and keeps the world at bay. In the human body, this cloak is the buildup of thickened muscular padding primarily around the shoulders, neck, buttocks, and legs. This armor protects against outside forces, both real and imaginary, warding off the unwanted and guarding our inner self.
The practice of yoga melts our armoring, increases our range of motion, and releases us from our physical and psychological burdens.”
– Tias Little, from Yoga International November 2003
When you have a chunk of time, you may want to read the entire article here, because it’s very enlightening. I think about this when I look around at people, especially because I teach yoga everyday.
I think about it in reference to myself, too. We each have ways in which we’re protecting ourselves from the big bad world, right? I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve read Lin-Ann’s guest posts over the past few months. It takes a lot of courage to allow your armor to be dismantled – it’s there for a reason!
In the end, though, all that defensiveness weighs us down. In ways that feel appropriate and safe for us today, it’s a good idea to practice becoming undefended. It will feel vulnerable, but it will also feel releasing. Over time, with practice, the evolution continues and more of our armor will melt away. I love that yoga is a process that continues for weeks, months, years, our whole life.
You can find out more about Tias Little (a teacher I’ve studied with several times) at: http://www.tiaslittle.com/
The magazine that originally published this is here:
http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/yogaplus/
Enjoy your practice,
Barrett
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