When we were little kids we had no problems trying something new and failing. We never felt embarrassed or silly. When we tried to master a new skill, we tried over and over again. And if it didn’t happen that day, well, we just tried again another day. Sometimes we got it, then lost it again for a while. For a while we had to be content to just look at the pictures until we learned how to read the words.
As we grew up the idea of not being able to do something somehow became connected with our self-worth. Failure meant we weren’t good enough or capable. Perhaps we began to think that we were this way forever and couldn’t possibly grow or change. Imagine what would happen if little kids felt this way. They would never learn to walk, or talk, read or write.
In a way this is what has happened to many of us. Our growth has been stunted by us fearing failure, attaching permanent labels to who or what we think we are, by valuing what other people think more than we value what we think. We worry more about managing the thoughts of others than managing our own thoughts.
The yoga mat is a safe place for us to start peeling away these erroneous beliefs. It’s a place where we can see clearly how our thoughts hold us back from growing. How we are standing in our own way. When we do our yoga practice, we are not just practicing postures, we are also practicing how to try something new, how to cope with set-backs, how to grow.
Sometimes this process makes us cry. Sometimes we feel angry. Sometimes we want to give up. That’s ok. It means the yoga is working. All we need to remember is that, like a child, it will not be this way forever. One day the pictures will make sense, then the letters, then the words.
One day, we won’t even remember how hard it was to learn the words, because we will be so absorbed in the beauty of the story.
All we really have to do is show up, do our best with an open heart and mind and have faith that yoga will guide the way.
X L