I have often struggled with flexibility. For me that meant that if something didn’t happen the way I wanted it to, the way I imagined it to, then I would…give up and move on. Sometimes I would get angry and resentful. I would feel hurt and unsupported.
I’m trying to work on that. Work with it.
I’m on my second month of 30 days of yoga!!!!! The first month, this flexibility looked like taking days off without giving up on the month. It meant that if a yoga practice felt out of my league or outside my interest, I could skip it, but come back to the challenge the next day.
This month, I’m trying something a little different. About ten days ago, I showed up on the mat to a practice that was very active, when all I wanted to do was move slowly, breathe deeply, and stretch. So I let the practice play to keep track of time, and I moved slowly, breathed deeply, and stretched.
Today, I woke up tired but determined to do my practice before work–I prefer to move my body with any intensity before breakfast, it just feels better. But this morning as I entered my first downward facing dog, I realized that was not what my body needed in that moment. I decided to pause yoga and get my workday going early. I decided to come back to this specific practice later. And if it still didn’t sit right, maybe I’d skip a day or do a more restorative practice again. Whatever felt right.
The point of this isn’t the yoga…it isn’t what I ended up doing after I finished work today. It’s that playing with flexibility has opened new options up for me. It’s helped me challenge my black and white thinking, something I am constantly trying to improve on. It’s helped me manage my perfectionism and move my body with somewhat more consistency. It’s pushed me to listen to myself more often throughout the day. And to try things out without committing to them unnecessarily. It’s helped me hold more grace for my friends and for the people around me.
So yeah…stay flexible people.
P.S. No this whole post was not a pun around flexibility and yoga, I promise!
tmd 