I bet you know this situation: the teacher shows something, it looks easy. You give it a try — impossible. The teacher breaks it down into single steps, explains the technique and it looks, guess what, super easy. You give it another try — impossible. I mean, this kind of never-in-this-life-possible. Everything in your body is asking ‚are you kidding me?‘ Alright, it’s not your body talking to you, but your ego. Telling you, ‚you’ll never be there’, ‚you’re not good/flexible/strong (choose your word) enough‘!
Your ego is quite intelligent, if this strategy is not working, there’s the opposite: ‚go for it, work hard, push yourself, don’t give up before you can do it‘!
Babe, that’s not better at all. Both is not doing anything good to you. Relax. Make it part of your practice to turn that ego talk off. You will immediately be open to feel, trust and be easy to yourself. It allows your body to try. Allows yourself to laugh when falling, to appreciate your practice as it is. It opens you to be grateful for each baby step.
Let me give you an example: jump throughs. These wonderful transitions between asanas. They look so natural. Have you ever tried to lift your feet in a forward fold, in Uttanasana? See. My ego told me, as long as I can’t do this, I won’t be able to jump through. And even more. My ego told me, I’ll never be a proper Ashtangi without being able to jump through. I didn’t stop working on it, but frankly, without much effort, my aim was rather making the transitions more fluent, than to jump.
One day I managed to send my ego back to sleep before practice. It was like a ‚click’ in my mind, all of a sudden I knew I had to position my hands slightly different and I walked through. Ohhhh! I know, that’s not jumping, but my hands stayed flat at the mat. This was showing my body the way. This was the moment I knew, I can do it. I can jump, no need to float before.
It works. In baby steps. Get your mind on track! Relax. Do your practice and let it happen when it’s time. Allow your ego to have a break. Allow your ego to stop texting all day long. Relax, babe.
TUNEin:YOGA 