yoga metaphor #?
4/4
here i go again... today in yoga class...
no seriously, i really do believe that the things you learn on any plane (physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, etc) can be applied to any other, infact, it's a very efficient way of learning.
today's lesson has to due with acceptance & release and it actually was a combination of both a physical and an emotional experience.
i found myself wanting this one posture to just be over and hearing myself say that i "hated it." i had to ask "why?", it's not a particularily difficult position but it does involve a type of flexibility i've never had.
so first i realized i didn't "hate" it
(lesson #1: question those negative tape loops in your head, they might be an easy answer but they are damaging, especially when they are not even true)
then i realized that i was fighting against a certain discomfort level that i maybe should just resign myself to and not expect anything more; the discomfort was the lesson, learning to deal with it was the lesson.
with this came both a release of some physical tightness and of emotion. on the physical plane i was able to go deeper into the posture, to more fully engage and this in turn allowed me to experience a true letting go of grief.
(lesson #2: we really do hold emotional stuff in our bodies, which really does lead to disease, both psychological and physiological. anything you can do (exercise, massage, etc.) to release this stuff will improve your life & health.)
but the real gift here was realizing that sometimes just accepting your limitations can be the most important step in overcoming them. once you surrender to yourself, you are not judging and not fighting, you are just being. this kind of takes the ego out of the picture and makes room for growth and for a smaller but possibly more powerful voice to begin to emerge.
here i go again... today in yoga class...
no seriously, i really do believe that the things you learn on any plane (physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, etc) can be applied to any other, infact, it's a very efficient way of learning.
today's lesson has to due with acceptance & release and it actually was a combination of both a physical and an emotional experience.
i found myself wanting this one posture to just be over and hearing myself say that i "hated it." i had to ask "why?", it's not a particularily difficult position but it does involve a type of flexibility i've never had.
so first i realized i didn't "hate" it
(lesson #1: question those negative tape loops in your head, they might be an easy answer but they are damaging, especially when they are not even true)
then i realized that i was fighting against a certain discomfort level that i maybe should just resign myself to and not expect anything more; the discomfort was the lesson, learning to deal with it was the lesson.
with this came both a release of some physical tightness and of emotion. on the physical plane i was able to go deeper into the posture, to more fully engage and this in turn allowed me to experience a true letting go of grief.
(lesson #2: we really do hold emotional stuff in our bodies, which really does lead to disease, both psychological and physiological. anything you can do (exercise, massage, etc.) to release this stuff will improve your life & health.)
but the real gift here was realizing that sometimes just accepting your limitations can be the most important step in overcoming them. once you surrender to yourself, you are not judging and not fighting, you are just being. this kind of takes the ego out of the picture and makes room for growth and for a smaller but possibly more powerful voice to begin to emerge.
