The Evidence of your Practice | Part 2: Agency in your Choices
This is Part 2 of a 5 part series on the evidence of your yoga practice.
If you haven't already, I encourage you to first read THIS, for the intention behind these reflections as well as Part 1 to get you started.
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2. Your past, memories and stories, start to have less impact on your behaviour. You become an active agent (rather than a victim) of your experience.
Every moment, we are giving power to certain stories or identifying with certain attributes we associate with our character or personality. Over time, this can thicken into a tough weave of what you perceive as 'can' or 'can't'.
This is like building a wall each time you encounter a sense of resistance. Just because the visible path comes to an end, doesn't mean you can’t explore beyond it. Much of the time, however, our natural, self-preserving instinct is to term that a finality, build a wall, and put up a mental sign saying 'No trespassing'.
What's the wall made of?
Fear. Doubt. Uncertainty. Anxiety. Anything which makes you feel a shrinking, a narrowing.
Life is constantly opening new doors, holding out new offerings; but we can get so attached to holding onto past stories to create a false safety of familiarity... our hands stay too full to receive anything else.
“‘Why do you stay imprisoned, when the door is wide open?’”
Through the yoga practice, your might begin to soften your grip on strategies for staying enclosed in safety and comfort.
As we increase our capacity for full, present breath, we might observe a growing capacity for tolerance even in unfamiliar circumstances. As we strengthen our arm and legs, we connect with new possibilities in steadiness and service.
Gradually, the evidence of your practice is unveiled in the moments between stimulus and response. We stop madly weaving walls, and slow down enough to witness a little more gentleness in keeping our palms open to the fresh possibilities life presents.
Yoga is itself both a state of being, and a verb - an active, evolving process of becoming. When our stories and innate biases hold less charge, we can lean in more towards choices made intentionally, rather than reactively.
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REFLECTION + PRACTICE
Identify one thing you once felt out of your reach, but now seems no big deal. It might be an arm balance in your yoga practice, a mental attitude, something in your working habits. Write down 2-3 factors which contributed to this change: it may be the presence of a trusted teacher, the encouragement from someone you respect, a discovery about yourself which offered strength.
Consider one mindset, a yoga posture, an activity you've always wanted to try but dismissed from your psyche as inaccessible, maybe something you wish to express outwardly - a current 'wall'.
List down 2-3 factors which you see as limitations (e.g. my shoulders are too 'tight' / I'm too shy to ___ / I don't have the qualifications for ___).
Don't think too analytically - write down whatever comes up first. Now to query each limitation - is there evidence to support this claim? Is it true? Or is it an excuse sprouting from fear of failure, shame or another uncomfortable state? BE HONEST.Consider again the factors you listed above which supported you in the first reflection. How might these same support sources help you see a different perspective on what you view as a limitation?
Next time you meet this current 'wall' identified in 1), how can you actively conjur one or more of these support systems? Even being able to peek through at what's on the other side creates an opening which , little by little, can expands your idea of what is possible beyond the stories we tell.
This exploration is itself a conversation, and our practices a constant evolving journey. Please feel free to comment with what strikes a chord with you, or send me a message. I'd love to hear about what you discover, and how we might better support and celebrate each other, in community.