by Dana Campbell
Letting Go of Fear to Grow Off Our Mats,
My niece is nine months old and the cutest thing ever. Lately she’s been obsessed with learning to climb the stairs. She’s also been flirting pretty seriously with taking her first unassisted steps.
Via Facetime this morning, I watched her grab onto the edge of a table and pull herself up to stand. As an aunt and a yogi it was magical!
I also saw her contemplate taking her first steps. Truly considering stepping away from the table toward her mother.
She let go of the table with one hand, turned her whole body toward my sister and made the face of someone trying to figure out how to do the impossible. After what felt like an eternity of waiting for her to take a step, she turned back, put her other hand on the table and chose to stay put.
Just like that the moment was over.
As adults our reaction to change and growth is much the same as my nieces. We flirt with taking the first steps into a new world, hesitate, turn around and tighten our grip around what we already know. And just like that we get stuck.
As yogis’ we are encouraged to take a different path, one of curiosity and non-attachment. Our asana practice teaches us to let go of what we know to be true and the fears holding us back. We’re challenged to attempt the seemingly impossible. We do this on the mat to build the courage to do it in meditation and then off the mat.
Letting go of what we've been grasping tightly onto makes space for exploration and growth.
In my practice I grasp very tightly that shoulderstand doesn't work in my body. So I explored a sequence around salamba sarvangasana
Virasana w/ shoulder rotations
Bharadvajasana I (Right and Left)
Shoulder flossing
Modified Suryas ( with bound salambasana)
Parsvokonasana with bind
Vira 1 with hands bound behind
Straight leg Vira 1 – back bend
Utkatasana
Ustrasana Prep with hands
Virasana
Navasana
Constructive rest
Setu Banda Sarvangasana with shoulderstand hands/arms
Constructive rest
Salamba Sarvangasana with blankets and support under the elbows.
Matsyasana
Savasana
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ReplyDeleteThanks for your Dharma Talk Dana. It reminds me to marvel then and again at my own ability to walk, when and as I want. I'd love to know what "Shoulder Flossing" is. Please show me in January?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful relationship between people and the page, and then taking the concept off the mat. A really heartfelt little story, Dana. It's easy to visualize. I'm curious and wonder what your niece's name is...? Petite Little Yogini :) that she seems to be. --Denise
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting is that there was no judgement in that action by your niece. She tried, changed her mind, and will undoubtedly try again. We need to learn from that. We need to learn to let go of the judgement, the doubt and fear of failure/rejection. Just like your niece, we need to take baby steps towards change.
ReplyDeleteUr niece is behaving as an adult, thinking before going into the unknown! Usually children dare do whatever because their mind is not controlling!
ReplyDeleteGreat use of the personal to illustrate your point. Loved the story about your niece and could really visualize the suspension in the moment she left go of the table. I agree with Nicole's point. Testing the water is natural and normal. Why are we so hard on ourselves about it? By the way, I could really use some shoulder flossing about now!
ReplyDeleteSo sweet, and I agree with above comments the lack of judgement is wonderful. I really like your description of the look on her little face "the face of someone trying to figure out how to do the impossible". A nice way to remind ourselves to keep trying.
ReplyDeleteThis is a sweet analgogy that reveals quite a bit about fear and how we become conditioned in life. Yoga is certainly a major way to undo some of that and set us on a freer path. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteShort, sweet, perfect talk. Inveterate flosser I, also no idea what that means vis-a-vis shoulders. Assuming it's the hands-and-knees thread-the-needle thang and look forward to elucidation this weekend, as do we all!
ReplyDeletelove the story about your niece. great sequence. which component of shoulder stand is difficult for you? The fish pose after shoulder stand is tricky in that it is very heating after one of the most cooling poses energetically. it is also too fast of a transition for the neck which could compromise a disk...
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