Growth Mindset (Yoga in Heston & Hounslow)

18 Feb Growth Mindset (Yoga in Heston & Hounslow)

Before we continue on vertical development I would like to talk about the growth mindset. Without the growth mindset vertical development is much more difficult if not impossible.

The more I practice and learn about Yoga the more I appreciate just how important a growth mindset is and just how damaging and limiting having a fixed mindset can be.

The second limb of Yoga describes a practice called tapas. Tapas involves doing what we find frightening or difficult. Pushing back the boundaries of our comfort zone. It is heavily rooted in a growth mindset.

It is also very difficult to experience “flow” if you have a fixed mindset as you will not want to push your boundaries or challenge yourself in case you end up feeling like a failure. A fixed mindset is toxic to the whole practice of yoga.

Our knowledge of growth and fixed mindsets come from the work of Carol Dweck.

The following is from Carol Dweck’s page on wikipedia; 

Her key contribution to social psychology relates to implicit theories of intelligence, per her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. According to Dweck, individuals can be placed on a continuum according to their implicit views of where ability comes from.

Some believe their success is based on innate ability; these are said to have a “fixed” theory of intelligence (fixed mindset). Others, who believe their success is based on hard work, learning, training and doggedness are said to have a “growth” or an “incremental” theory of intelligence (growth mindset).

Individuals may not necessarily be aware of their own mindset, but their mindset can still be discerned based on their behavior. It is especially evident in their reaction to failure.

Fixed-mindset individuals dread failure because it is a negative statement on their basic abilities, while growth mindset individuals don’t mind or fear failure as much because they realize their performance can be improved and learning comes from failure.

These two mindsets play an important role in all aspects of a person’s life. Dweck argues that the growth mindset will allow a person to live a less stressful and more successful life. Dweck’s definition of fixed and growth mindsets from a 2012 interview:

“In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb. In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don’t necessarily think everyone’s the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it.”

This is important because (1) individuals with a “growth” theory are more likely to continue working hard despite setbacks and (2) individuals’ theories of intelligence can be affected by subtle environmental cues. For example, children given praise such as “good job, you’re very smart” are much more likely to develop a fixed mindset, whereas if given compliments like “good job, you worked very hard” they are likely to develop a growth mindset. In other words, it is possible to encourage students, for example, to persist despite failure by encouraging them to think about learning in a certain way.