Until Triangle Do Us Part.
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There are many reasons men and women become couples of all kinds, and get married, even when they know better.
They grow up, the clock is ticking, or they get cold feet about staying single. It seems like the next step, maybe there’s a baby on the way, and sometimes best of all, they’re in love.
However, about half of all marriages in America end up in divorce, according to the United States Census Bureau. The separation rate for subsequent marriages is even higher. The unmarried break up faster than the married. Cohabiting parents are four times more likely to split up than those who are wed.
Couples stay together because they have made a family, or they’ve made their love last, or because they simply have shared interests. When they do have similar interests, they always have something to share together. They are able to understand one another better during hard times, and have great holidays and weekends.
What’s better than having a mate who likes to explore for antiques or go rock climbing, just like you?
Or practice Yoga?
“When you merge your practice with another’s, you fall into sync with that person,” said Michelle Fondin, a Yoga teacher and member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association. “Your breath, movement, and body positions find a rhythm together.”
Couples don’t, and can’t, do everything together. Even if they have the most fun of all fun times together, they still need to give it a rest now and again, and have some fun with their friends. They have their own lives, a life for each of them, even though they have a life with one another.
Although common interests don’t have anything to do with compatibility, it’s helpful to have interests in common.
It may be true that two dog-lovers who don’t know how to communicate are probably not going to make it, but it’s more true that a dog-lover and a dog-hater are certainly not going to make it, no matter what their communication skills are.
Unlike sharing a tub of popcorn and a movie at the multiplex, sharing a Yoga practice and traveling the same spiritual journey are more likely to join couples closer together, uniting them in a similar flow.
The word Yoga, itself, means to yoke or join.
“When you focus on the breath, body, and movement of another person in Yoga practice, your physical body will entrain with the other,” said Ms. Fondin. “It creates harmony within the couple.”
When couples get together on the mat, instead of me-time on the elliptical, it becomes us-time at the Yoga studio. Instead of focusing on the flat screen in front of the NordicTrack, they share the benefits of drishti, which, in Yoga, means concentrated intention or a focused gaze.
Instead of being connected to iPod earbuds, they are connected to their partner, not Justin Bieber.
“Both partners come away with feelings of synchronicity, cooperative spirit, and shared passion,” said Dr. Jane Greer, a marriage and family therapist. “Then you throw in some spicy endorphins, and it can be a real a real power trip for the relationship.”
Maybe that’s why there’s a kind of practice called Power Yoga.
There is a Yoga crafted specifically for couples, called Partner Yoga. Unlike some rites of Tantra, which are sexual in nature, it eschews those aspects, although it emphasizes intimacy through touch and movement.
“Partners rely on each other’s support to keep proper body alignment, balance, and focus in a posture,” said Elysabeth Williamson, a yoga teacher and author of The Pleasures and Principles of Partner Yoga. “When you feel physically supported, not only do you experience a Yoga posture differently, but you also begin to allow yourself to trust someone else.”
When you grab a loved one and hit the mat together, good things happen, and it’s not just about creating shared moments. The power of touch alone is powerful, whether it’s doing double downward dog or simply a partner twist, cultivating emotional as well as physical support in the relationship.
“Partner Yoga is the medium for building stronger communication and intimacy between human beings in any relationship,” said Cain Carroll, co-author of Partner Yoga: Making Contact for Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Growth.
When partners expand beyond the mat, delving into the other seven of the eight limbs of Yoga, they often deepen their connection with one another. When they dive into the spiritual side of Yoga, they find there’s a lot more below the lotus floating on the surface of the swimming pool.
In many senses, asana, or Yoga exercise, is largely an external practice, a device or technique of disposing the body in postures to satisfy a hankering for loose hamstrings or to alleviate back pain.
The rest of Yoga, from meditation to the morals of the practice, is largely an internal practice. One of the eight limbs of Yoga is even called dharana, which is commonly translated as introversion. Another, Ishvarapranidhana, is about as private as it gets.
Yoga is partly about what goes on when touching your toes on the mat, but mostly about what goes on off the mat. Standing on your head is one thing, but what goes on inside your head is the rest of the thing. It isn’t nailing headstand that’s important, even though nailing it is nice.
It’s about keeping your peace of mind when you fall out of headstand that’s important.
“Spirituality and the spiritual life give us the strength to love,” said the writer bell hooks. Everyone draws strength from the people they love and who love them in return. When couples are on the same page in body, mind, and spirit, it’s as good as gold.
Except when it isn’t. “You can make your relationship your Yoga, but it is the hardest Yoga you will ever do,” said Ram Dass, a spiritual teacher and the author of Be Here Now.
What happens when one of the partners falls off the Yoga wagon? What happens when the shared awareness of Yoga goes downstream? What happens when Yoga becomes a triangle and something’s got to give?
There are many ways that Yoga brings mindfulness to a relationship. One of them is the idealism of the practice. There are also many ways that people break up, separate, and file for divorce. They’re always squabbling, or lying to each other, or they simply fall out of love.
Communication issues are a common problem, and infidelity has long been a betrayal that can’t be forgiven.
Balance in the bedroom can be tricky.
Losing interest in shared hobbies or interests might throw a relationship out of whack, or not. How we spend our spare time doesn’t necessarily separate us. Losing interest in shared values, however, is usually deadly. Values are beliefs that are a fundamental part of who a person is.
They are important in the sense that they are a man or woman’s rules of life.
“The mind endlessly grasps after things, clings to expectations, and resents your partner if he or she doesn’t share the same values,” said Philip Moffitt, founder of the Life Balance Institute.
Yoga on the mat is exercise, which is valuable, but the rest of Yoga is a value system. Practicing Yoga is a way of trying to lead a conscious, ethical life. Staying in a relationship with someone who behaves and relates to the world in a completely different way than you do would take a saint, and there ain’t many saints in this world.
Any couple can get healthy by practicing Core Yoga together. However, if their core values are mismatched, it’s doubtful whether they can have a healthy partnership.
But, if three’s a crowd, when it comes to Yoga, two’s a crowd.
Yoga is not a solitary pursuit. It’s a way of staying present, not just on the mat, but off the mat too. It’s a minute-to-minute experience. But, it’s a solitary pursuit in the sense that no matter how open to the day it helps one to be, it’s a deeply private, self-centered practice.
Even though being self-centered is often thought of as bad, it’s not always the case.
Most Yoga classes start with a moment of focusing the mind and breath. It’s a way of centering, forfending the external and self-centering, setting a baseline for the practice. Turning one’s attention during class to the birds and bees in the room will off-center anybody.
Triangles can be deadly, on and off the mat, but Yoga isn’t just triangle pose, nor is it just a love triangle on which love can get caught on one dead side.
Rather, if there’s anything that can help weather the loss of shared interests, shared values, and even the loss of a shared love, it’s the electric third rail of Yoga, if only because it’s the practice of freedom — freedom for you and freedom for me.
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