Conscious Choice: Translating Yoga Skills Into Life Skills

August 2006 | Yoga Chat

Translating Yoga Skills Into Life Skills

By Darlene E. Paris

Wynecta and Paul Fishburn (not their real names) seemed to be the ideal couple. Five years after their wedding, they had built a successful, people-oriented small business, and 10 years later, started another.

The success of their businesses came with a price: they were spending less and less time together. Then Wynecta discovered her husband was having an affair with one of their managers. Initially she wanted a divorce, but when it came time to file papers, Wynecta stalled.

“Having married straight out of high school, I wasn’t used to living alone,” says the 38-year old mother of two children. “I had to come face-to face with my fear of making it without my husband, and I wasn’t ready for that.”

Wynecta’s best friend suggested a yoga class. “I wasn’t sure how stretching my body could help me face my aloneness,” she says, “but I was ready to try it.”

Initially Wynecta’s newfound daily yoga practice failed to propel her into action. “In class, I felt less tense, but as soon as I left the yoga studio my anxiety began to rise,” she said. “I wanted to apply the strength I felt in Warrior pose to my life. I just didn’t know how.”

She was about to give up when she met Schaumburg native Jessie “Unmani” King, founder of Life Skills Off the Mat—a yoga therapy that supports people in making changes in their lives. “Some yoga practitioners believe that if they practice yoga daily all their problems will magically disappear,” says King. “Yoga postures are great, but some of us need guidance when it comes to using yoga as a catalytic agent for change.” He believes a deeper level of commitment and time is required to attain what lies at the core of most of our desires, which is to find peace and happiness.

Life Skills Off the Mat was largely inspired by the work of the late Lester Levenson, whose work laid the foundation for two popular programs, the Release Method and the Sedona Method. King explains that when Levenson fell ill and was told he didn’t have much time left, the 42-year old physicist and entrepreneur decided to experiment on himself. “He believed he could be free of his diseases if he let everything go, especially his illnesses and his inner limitations,” King says. Instead of getting sicker, Levenson began to heal.

“It’s all about letting go,” King continues. “The only reason we hold on is that we don’t think that there’s going to be enough. But there’s abundance in the universe. And with that bounty comes the freedom of knowing that everything is available to you, whenever you choose to let it in.”

Life Skills Off the Mat helps students let go of belief systems, tension and material items that no longer serve them. It involves eight steps, and all you really need is a yoga mat.

Step 1. Identify the opportunity. What concerns you right now?

Step 2. Identify the feeling. What are the core emotions that rise up around this issue?

Fishburn felt lonely, frightened, angry and disempowered at not having the courage to sign divorce papers.

Step 3. Bring up the picture. Once you identify the issue and how you feel about it, open up to any images that develop when you experience those feelings.

Step 4. Pull up the self-talk. What is the internal dialogue that you maintain about these issues? Is it productive?

In Fishburn’s case, she kept hearing herself say, “I feel weak. I don’t have what it takes to make it on my own.”

Step 5. Check your energy. What effect do your words, mental pictures and feelings have on your energy? Breathe deeply and connect with your chakras.

Step 6. Select a pose that represents the opposite of what you’re currently feeling. This pose can be used as an anchor to free you from your inner limitations and help you reference your power when you’re off the mat, King explains. “This kinesthetic component will help you release stagnant energy due to emotions being stuck in the musculature and cell tissue of the body.”

Fishburn’s pose was Warrior II. “When I executed this posture I began to believe I could actually solve my problems.”

Step 7. Start from the top. Once you’ve struck a pose, answer the questions in steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 again. This time, notice how different you feel when you answer these questions.

Step 8. Release into peace. Once you’ve identified positive and more empowering feelings, release more deeply into them. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, feeling your lungs expanding as you inhale, your shoulders relaxing as you exhale. As you breathe into this new empowered state, ask yourself: Could I let myself relax deeper into this feeling? Would I allow this feeling into my cell tissue? Is it okay if I do it right now? Take another deep breath and ask these same questions for two more rounds until you feel light and more at ease. Ask yourself: Would I let myself release into this feeling of greater empowerment? When? The answers don’t matter. Just continue asking the questions—if you practice this daily, your life will change.

Wynecta used both Warrior I and II to help her find the strength to move forward with her life. After working with the eight questions process for four months, she was finally able to ask for a divorce and discover a peace she says she still doesn’t completely understand.

Darlene Paris is a Chicago-area freelance writer and regular yoga practitioner.

Jessie “Unmani” King will be giving a weekend workshop on Life Skills Off the Mat at YogaNow—Gold Coast, 8/25-27. Call 312-280-9642 or visit yoganowchicago.com for more information.

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