 |
| Ahhh, living room turned sanctuary... |
The clock on the computer reads 7:52. It's Saturday, and I am alone in our house. Any other day, maybe I would not have been doing a backflip, but you would probably have found me on my mat doing some serious backbends while basking in the peace and quiet. That's not going to happen today seeing as I am still recovering from having thrown my back out the other day. Just tying my shoes is a feat worthy of an Olympic medal.
At another point in my life, this situation would have me wallowing in throes of selfpity. I would have felt abandoned by my husband who is out racing his horse. I would have written list upon list in my head of everything I wanted to do but couldn't given my present condition. I would have been gritting my teeth fearing that all I've learned from my 13-year practice would disintegrate in the handful of days I would unable to exert myself physically. I would have shaken my fist at the ironic fate of having spent hours last weekend doing extensive hip openers, only to misjudge my newly found spinal range of motion a mere two days later, which is exactly how I ended up with this injury.
Instead, I'm ok with it.
What makes yoga different than my years of tedious exercise rituals is the training of the mind along with the body. And, yes, that, too, takes practice and dedication. Certain things fall into place at once while other hard-earned lessons come about only after I've gotten tired of making the same old mistakes over and over and over again.
I experienced one of my biggest a-ha moments a few years ago during my yoga for pregnancy course. The ob-nurse walking us through the delivery process (like I didn't know, having been-there, done-that, TWICE) stopped me in my tracks when she said that regardless of how much pain a woman experiences during a contraction, it will pass. It doesn't last forever, just as with everything else in life, she continued on saying. You could have knocked me over with a feather on the spot. It's been my #1 mantra ever since.
The other lesson acting as my pillar, or rather, more like my crutch today, is one on acceptance. I admit that the idea of acceptance is something that I have struggled with throughout the years. Not when it comes to tolerance, but rather when it's about me and my life story. I feared that accepting the negative could be equated with surrendering, giving up, like a dog rolling onto its back to expose its belly. Last weekend, at the same workshop where I found the new depths in my hips, my yoga teacher offered the idea of acceptance as a marker for your present state. From there, you have your "square one", a starting point from which you can move forward.
<3
ReplyDelete