“Yes, I can go on Wednesday night instead of Tuesday.” Sally responded. Alice was relieved. Her previous practice buddy was not as flexible in her availability as Sally is.
Alice’s relationship with Sally, her new Practice Buddy, has been great. She used the Two Pots Principle from Aesop’s fables to help her avoid the most common problems with Practice Buddy relationships.
The earthernware pot can be easily destroyed by the steel pot.
A river carried down in its stream two Pots, one earthenware and the other steel. The Earthenware Pot said to the Steel Pot, “Pray stay away and do not come near me, for if you touch me ever so slightly, I shall be broken in pieces, and besides, I by no means wish to come near you.”
Moral: “Equals make the best friends.”
What is a Practice Buddy
A Practice Buddy is someone that you make arrangements with to practice yoga together with on a regular basis.
Why you should have a Practice Buddy
There are many benefits to having a Practice Buddy including:
- You make sure that each other goes to yoga practice
- You help to keep each other motivated
- Between the two of you, you can learn a lot more by sharing your collective knowledge
- You talk to each other after class to clarify any confusion about how to do a particular pose
As you can see having a practice buddy will really help you and your yoga practice to improve quickly. Now all you need to do is find one.
How to find a Practice Buddy
Applying the Two Pots Principle of Equals make the Best Friends, there are several characteristics that Alice is checking with Sally to see if they are compatible including:
- experience
- availability
- flexibility
- ability
Starting at the top of the list Alice talks to Sally about their experience with yoga.
Similar Experience
You and your yoga practice buddy need to be the same type of pot.
You and your practice buddy will get along best if you have a similar amount of experience with yoga. The number of years that you have been practising yoga is one way to measure experience, but there is another way.
Alice is interested in getting a practice buddy for the Yin Yoga classes that she is starting. Sally is interested in the Yin Yoga classes too. Even though Sally has many more years experience with yoga, she like Alice is new to the Yin Yoga classes.
Both Alice and Sally have similar levels of experience with Yin Yoga now they need to check on their availability.
Similar Availability
Being a Practice Buddy means that you attend classes together. Both Alice and Sally can attend almost all of the Yin Yoga classes together. There is one night that Alice is not available, but Sally is okay with that.
Being available and able to go to the classes together is good but even better is having enough flexibility in your schedule should something come up.
Similar Flexibility
This is not about how flexible you are in a yoga pose.
Everybody’s life is busy and full of lots of activities and responsibilities. Alice wants to know that when something comes up how easy it will be for Sally to adjust her schedule. On the other hand Alice lets Sally know how flexible she can be with her own scheduling.
It will work best if both Alice and Sally have a similar level flexibility in their scheduling and their ability to accommodate the other person’s needs.
If one of you is unable to change their schedule while the other has a need for lots of flexibility then this will lead to conflicts in the future and a failure of the Two Pots Principle.
Once you take care of your scheduling flexibility it is time to check out your ability to do yoga.
Similar Ability
Alice and Sally do not have the same level of ability with yoga. Sally has been doing yoga for many more years than Alice and she is quite a bit more flexible. But the Yin Yoga classes are very different and require a different approach.
Both Alice and Sally have a similarly level of ability when it comes to Yin Yoga. Sally’s greater flexibility will not be a factor when they are both doing Yin Yoga.
Alice and Sally conclude that they will be good Practice Buddies for the Yin Yoga classes. Alice also thinks that Sally’s additional experience with yoga may bring some interesting insights to their new experience with Yin Yoga.
Finding the right buddy can make all the difference to your yoga practice.
Summary
The next time you are looking for a Practice Buddy remember the Two Pots Principle and pick a person that has
- similar experience with the style of yoga that you are interested in.
- similar availability so that you can attend many classes together.
- similar flexibility, that is scheduling flexibility not flexibility in a pose.
- similar ability with the style of yoga that you will be practice buddies for.
Applying the Two Pots Principle will help you to avoid having one of you damage the relationship by being like the earthenware pot and easily destroyed by the steel pot. If you are both earthenware pots then your practice buddy relationship will have a chance to last a long time.
Next Step
The next time you are looking for a practice buddy remember Aesop’s fable about the two pots and look for a practice buddy that is similar to you.
Additional Reading
How many Practice Buddies should you have talks about the benefits and drawbacks of having more than one practice buddy.
A practice buddy can help you to develop a daily yoga practice. Read How to develop a daily yoga practcie to find out how.
For more information on picking a practice buddy check out How to avoid the stormy practice buddy.
