Stretch. (Or, why I love yoga.)

If you've known me longer than a year, you probably know I was not always a fan of yoga. I had tried to get into it without success, mostly due to my preference for being outside. 

Over the past six months I've been (happily) bitten by the yoga bug and am now completely, utterly in love (but, I digress). I would not be exaggerating if I told you yoga saves me every day. 

I could list thousands of reasons why I love it, but I'll focus on one: I am riveted by what yoga teaches me beyond yoga. The things my (many different) teachers say, and how what I hear is exactly what I needed on that particular day. 

  

To put it in other words, the teachings of yoga are not in my life because I strived to achieve them (my usual modus operandi). They came to me because I let them. (I am open to more, please.)

Here are some of my favorite examples:

Let go of what doesn't serve you. This is life-bending. I have so many ingrained habits that don't serve me. I worry. I go to the worst possible case scenario. I hold grudges. I feel guilt. I fume. I complain. I go in there gripping something useless (or downright damaging) as if my life depended on keeping it close to me, then hear "let go of what doesn't serve you". 

Breathe. Every time I hear this word uttered I am holding my breath. You can see how heeding it would be really useful if I’d rather not pass out.

Whatever you push pushes you back. There I was, trying my hardest to touch my toes. Overachiever that I am, I was definitely pushing, and frustrated with myself for not "doing it right". "Don't push", said my teacher. "Whatever you push pushes you back." (Whoa.) 

One of my teacher's favorite questions: What is true for you right now? I like to observe the first answer that pops into my head. (Lately, it's been quite consistent.)

Relax when you feel you need to struggle - this is how I learned I could stay in triangle pose for quite a while. Rather than struggling with it, I could relax into it. It's hard to understand if you haven't done it but when you do, it cracks your perception open. (Which would explain why sometimes I cry during poses.)

Very often, the teacher requests a pose I can't do. I see others do it. I know, I know.  You're supposed to focus on your own practice, but I always look at people around me in awe. And think "I will never do that. It defies gravity. It's physically impossible". This happened recently with the headstand. I regarded it as unachievable, until one day I did it. It was so easy. I felt weightless. And I realized right then, while standing on my head in the center of the room, that anything at all that seems impossibly difficult - anything  - would soon become easy, because that is what happens when you try something in earnest.

One of my teachers believes that she shouldn't force her students. That each of us should determine how much we want to do on that day. She describes a pose, then says "do it if it's available to you." "Do crow's pose" she'll say. "Or maybe not today." 

Another of the teachers uses full volume 80's music and makes us go through a Vinyasa at full power and speed. When I can't do something, he kneels in front of my mat and punches the floor in front of me yelling, "Do it! Do it!" or even turns to the room and says, "let's all wait until she gets this pose right". Normally, this would terrify me, but his attitude is so filled with good will. I know I can do whatever he asks. I do, and he smiles and winks and says "I got you". I could kiss him.

It astonishes me that two completely different approaches would both work so well with me.

I often come into the class dragging work (or whatever it is I am dragging) in with me. The teacher says, "Whatever you have to do won't get done while you are in here. Just be here. You don't have to do anything other than breathe and move through the poses". It hits me that I can take time off from whatever weighs on me, any time I want.

And my favorite one for last. How one of my teachers says at every pose - can you go lower? Can your back be straighter? Can you breathe deeper? He comes over, adjusts my pose, and whispers "Stretch!" Then repeats it over and over. Stretch. Stretch. It's such an incredible concept. Think about it: Depression makes you want to curl up. Darkness makes you shrink. Fear makes you wither. Stubbornness makes you narrow. Hate makes you lessen. Guilt makes you contract. Regret makes you shrivel. Negative feelings constrict. They weaken you. They diminish you.

Stretching is the opposite. It opens up your heart. It opens your eyes. It fills you with strength. It makes you more supple, more flexible. And it doesn't take much. You don't have to become someone else or do anything drastic. You don't need time to learn how to get it right. You just take who you already are, beautiful, unduplicatable, perfect, and stretch.

Photo: active.com