Strength, Courage, and Aversion
“You have been referred by a friend so I’m sure you already know Fluid Strength Yoga is not an asana class,” Faye Berton responded to my inquiry e-mail. My friend, a professional modern dancer with a passion for studying movement therapy, raves about Faye’s class at Laurel Yoga Studio in St. Paul.
“It works,” she says. “I don’t know how, but it does.”
Her recommendation, to me, is gold. I cannot pass up an opportunity to experience what works for someone like her. Someone who’s job it is and has been for over a decade to know and move her body. But what to expect? My friend has difficulty explaining the details and after a little research, I understand why. Here are some highlights on laurelyogastudio.com:
Fluid Strength™ is a holistic yoga practice...
This practice use rhythmic movement patterns rather than traditional asana to cultivate the body. These movements are based on neuro-motor principles of functional strength. Their potency is increased by being infused with vigorous breathing and Ayurvedic healing principles.
Emphasis is placed on developing a vital, flexibility spine and awakening the functional core of the body...vitalizes energy, awakens spontaneous meditation and frequently stimulates a seemingly miraculous release of pain.
Fluid Strength uses a traditional yoga practice model of resting (savasana) between each movement...the modern exercise notion of interval training. The resting phase in Fluid Strength is used to cultivate deep systemic quiet and a meditative mind.
The Fluid Strength Practice is simultaneously accessible and challenging to all levels of students. Beginning students benefit from the simplicity of the movement patterns. Highly trained people discover refined levels of body intelligence and fresh movement potential. Most of the movements are done lying down or sitting and can be easily adapted to individual needs.
The text above actually explains it quite well, although before class, it seemed to be utter gibberish. Faye began class by announcing we were going to focus on the feet because in the season of vata (Ayurvedic "air" element), we need grounding. She pointed out the joints of the feet on a wobbly model skeleton. My buddy and I wiggled our toes; our eyes vacillating from the model’s to our own feet and back again. Then she asked us to lay on our backs. Her regular students started panting while we rolled our pelvises back and forth, allowing this movement to ripple through the body. There are so many ways to do this movement and observing my body and brain as I played with them all was at turns frustrating and fascinating. The breath for me was anxiety-producing. I modified a lot. I managed to ask myself “why is this so terrible?” instead of letting the creeping anxiety take me for a ride straight into wild panic. Faye is very good with words. Descriptions and instructions are varied using metaphors and mechanics to get the results she wants. She doesn't "show how" or touch anyone. She did ask a student to demonstrate a movement when I assume most of us were beginning to question the possibility of something she was suggesting. Just to prove it could be done. Faye mostly watched us very closely, which was completely unnerving to me. At one point, I heard it loud and clear: my brain said, "This is stupid. I hate this." and then it said, "Okay, but why?" and then Faye distracted it with more suggestions...some of them being the very important "No thinking. Let the brain relax. Let it be." She also picked an Osho quote that she wove creatively into the instruction: "Courage is a Love Affair with the Unknown." I’m a writer. I love that stuff.
The class as a whole seems to be the opposite of what I like about my vinyasa class. No sweat. No contact. No music. No confident instruction of big movements. I paid for 6 classes, so if anything, it will be a good practice. I can mindfully observe my aversions and attachments. No doubt it will be infinitely beneficial.
