Are you a yoga Butterfly

A crack appears in the thick skin. Suddenly the cocoon begins to move. Gradually a new creature appears. Slowly a butterfly emerges. Its wings spread wide and then it flies away. The butterfly is very different from the caterpillar that created the cocoon.

A butterfly goes through three stages during its life cycle. You also go through various stages during your yoga life.

The Three stages of your yoga life

Much like the life cycle of a butterfly, you go through three stages in your yoga life. These three stages are:

• Caterpillar – Check it out
• Cocoon – I think I like it
• Butterfly – Yoga is the best thing in my life

Let’s look at these three stages in a little more detail

Stage 1 – Caterpillar yoga

In this stage you are at the beginning of your yoga life. You are checking out yoga to see if it is something that you will like. This is the exploration phase.

There are a lot of questions that you want answers to.

• Will I like the teachers.
• Will I like yoga.
• Will I like the other students.
• Will I like the studio.
• Will I see any benefits.
• Will I be embarrassed.

During this first stage your time commitment is minimal. One class a week is the usual time investment.

The improvement to the mind and body during this period is minimal as well. A small time investment results in a small improvement.

Not all caterpillars make it from this stage to the next stage. Similarly not everyone makes it from the check it out stage to the next stage. For those that do move on lets have a look at the cocoon stage.

Stage 2 – Cocoon yoga

In the caterpillar stage of your yoga life you are checking out yoga to see if it will be worth your while to invest your time into this practise. You move on to the Cocoon stage because you saw some improvement in your mind and body as a result of your yoga practise.

In this stage you time commitment increases. Usually you move from a class once a week to several classes a week.

You start to see more and more changes to your mind and body.

Your mind starts to get calmer and more focused. You are better able to recognize the signs of stress and the effect it is having on your body. You are learning the skills you need to handle this stress and remove its affects on you.

You body is starting to get more flexible. Your posture is improving. It is even possible that you might even become taller as your body straightens out.

During the cocoon stage the caterpillar’s body goes through a metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly. The change in your body is not quite as dramatic, but you will be experiencing significant changes.

Not every cocoon gives birth to a butterfly. In the same way not every student moves from this stage to the final stage of a yoga life.

Eventually the butterfly will emerge from the cocoon and begin a new life.

Stage 3 – Butterfly yoga

In this stage of your yoga practise, you have become convinced that yoga is the best thing that has ever happened to you. You feel as if your mind and body has been transformed.

Your mind is calm. Stress in your life comes and goes. You no longer retain the stress. You have learnt how to manage it and get rid of it.

The flexibility of your body is greatly improved. The energy flowing through your body is surprising. The aches and pains that have been with you for a long time are gone or greatly diminished.

Once again the time commitment to your yoga practise increases. You are now practising yoga almost daily.

You really notice it when you miss your yoga practise a couple of days in a row. You can tell that your mind and body are missing the benefits of that daily yoga practise.

Why do you move from one stage to the next

You move from one stage to the next because you are starting to see improvements in your mind and your body. Your mind is calmer. Your body is more flexible. You have more energy. There are less aches and pains.

How long do you stay in each stage

A butterfly moves through the various stages of its life cycle at a very predictable rate.

There is no set amount of time that you will stay in each stage of your yoga life before you move on to the next stage.

Lots of people start out with the Caterpillar stage but only a few of them will move on to the Cocoon stage. Typically you will stay in this stage for about two months before you decide to increase the frequency of your yoga practise to more than once a week.

The amount of time you stay in this stage varies greatly. Some people will stay here in the Cocoon stage for years. Coming several times a week is meeting their needs and there is no desire to move on any further. However you may find that after six months or so of coming 2-3 times a week that you want even more and you move on to the final Butterfly stage.

The Butterfly stage represents the rest of your life. When you make it to this stage in your yoga practise you will be here for a very long time.

How does your pass card tell you which stage you are in

When first start yoga you are in the Caterpillar stage. Your time commitment is small. You will buy a Drop in or single class at a time.

Eventually you will move on to the Cocoon stage. Your time commitment has increased. You a willing to commitment more time to yoga. You are now buying blocks of classes at a time. In this stage you are buying 5 or 10 classes at a time.

Finally you reach the Butterfly stage. You are now up to a daily practise. Your time commitment has escalated again. You are now buying the 6 month unlimited classes.

Summary

The life of a butterfly goes through three stages just like your yoga practise goes through three stages:

• Caterpillar. You are checking out yoga to see if you like it.
• Cocoon. You are seeing some benefits and you think it might be worthwhile continuing.
• Butterfly. You have seen significant improvement in your mind and body. You will never give up your yoga practise.

During each of these stages the amount of time you commit to yoga is increasing as well from once a week to a couple times a week to finally a daily practise.

Next Steps

Where are you at? What stage are you in: Caterpillar, Cocoon, Butterfly. Once you figure out where you are at it is time to decide where you want to be with your yoga practise. Is the Butterfly stage where you want to end up.

Talk to your teacher, they will help you to move to the next stage.