There I was, morning yoga class, in Standing Separate Head to Knee pose, forehead smashed against my knee (don’t even ask how you connect those parts), sinuses running out from somewhere in my nasal cavity while at the same time, sweat is running up my nose (again, don’t ask), and here is what the instructor says:
“You are supposed to be uncomfortable. This class is about finding peace in those uncomfortable moments in life.”
Well, she was right about the uncomfortable part, but as I was also trying to balance and keep my hands together in front of my toes, peace was far from what I felt. I made up my mind to find that peace in the second set. I do recall reading that Bikram said you’re supposed to find ten seconds of stillness in each posture. I found that just changing my I intention toward the second set, changed the way I felt in the pose. I did it with more purpose and when I was bent over I just stilled my body, stopped trying to adjust everything, and sure enough found peace and stillness amid the uncomfortableness.
How many of us can think of that time when we wish we’d acted or responded differently? And that other time when we wish we hadn’t caved into a pile of pathetic mush? And then there were the other times when we made it about us, instead of listening and paying attention to others. I’d like to think finding peace in uncomfortable yoga positions on a day to day basis will carry over into my life so that when the above happens, I can stop myself from going in one of these directions. Hopefully, peace in the midst of uncomfortable life situations will allow me to make better choices in how I respond to those I love and to the unexpected curveballs life throws my way.
And so, as another day goes by, once again the yoga teaches me to be my own guru, and …I have written.
Great post. I too love life’s lessons in my yoga practice. Just don’t know why it seems like I learn them and then sometime in the future I realize how much I forget them and need to be reminded. It is just like the practice itself. I’ll have some breakthrough in a posture by hearing something new in the dialogue or the instruction and then a month or two later i realize I have not kept it top of mind in moving on to focus on something new and pretty soon it is forgotten. Like today, remembering that a tight muscle which for me is trying too hard actually works against me.
Can’t wait to read about your workshop.