Well, the results are in: we were immensely successful in our yoga practice this morning. Dragonfly accomplished! Thank you Brigette Niedringhaus for the sequencing. We are now adding in the Level 2 poses that we couldn't do last week, that fit this practice, so we can continue to refine this practice and work on those other poses.
Here is the thing about "getting" a yoga pose: it isn't really all about getting the pose, but at the same time, it kind of is. Here is what I mean. If you practice yoga - any kind of yoga - you will receive all the thousand-fold benefits of the practice, mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, etc... So all of that good stuff is happening whether you want it to or not, whether you believe in it or not. It is fundamentally transformative. You will change as you do yoga.
So that part is given. Now you are faced with the task of learning and achieving your poses. First of all, no one - no one - in class cares if you get a pose. In case you haven't noticed, yoga is really hard. So you are on your mat trying your best to dig deep and do everything the instructor is saying, but guess who else is? The person next to you, and the person next to them, and the person next to them. Everyone (in theory) is focused on their own work.
When it came time to tackle our pinnacle pose, I started on the left side, couldn't get my foot high enough on my tricep, I slipped out of alignment and flopped to the floor. So I switched to the right side, which was even tighter, couldn't get my foot above my elbow, and considered, actually considered, not trying any more. My little brain was saying, well you tried it but your hips are too tight from skiing and hiking and you have only attempted this once, and that was only after a 2 hour practice with Desiree, of all people, so why do you think you can do it now?
And then I thought, that is so lame, try first side again. And first side resulted in me discovering that I have to do this speedy action of whipping my elbow and arm around to the sole of my foot and all of a sudden, it's in the best place. I was then able to balance on my hands and discover that cool fulcrum feeling for a brief moment before I flopped down again. So of course I thought, well let's try second side again and see what happens. Second side resulted in a moderate improvement but overall failure.
Again I considered not trying again, for all the reasons listed above plus more. Again, I realized how lame that is and made another stab at first side... fully successful! I was hovering like a dragonfly on a lily pad. And feeling unbelievably rewarded.
You can see, even if you don't do yoga or know the pose I am talking about, that it didn't really matter if I got dragonfly or not. What mattered was the process I went through to get there. Yes, it was great to achieve it but some poses are simply out of reach for us because our bodies are not ready to do them. And some poses are out of reach because our minds are not ready to get us there. You use your mind and your will to get you as far as you can, then detach from the results. If I had tried my hardest and not gotten it, I would have thought, maybe next time. If I had quit after my vain attempt the first time, I would have had that sneaking feeling that I had lamed out on myself.
So it isn't about getting the pose, but at the same time it is. It's about how you get yourself there. And then how you handle being there.
On top of all that, the skiing was fantastic!!! I was zipping around on my new skis, feeling invincible, or invisible today actually, mcloving it. The snow was that perfect quality, slidey and soft, dreamy like a soft-serve.
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