So I had this one student in yoga today whose upper body and core strength was in very early stages ... kind of like where I was when I first started. She was a regular yogi though, and someone who enjoyed her yoga practice too. When we came down to Malasana (yogic squat) and I offered the option to do Kakasana (crow), she got iffy and wondered if she could, as it had been a while she'd attempted it.
So, I offered her steps to get into it. She seemed afraid of the floor - imagine the fear of falling flat on your face and hurting your head or breaking your neck. (My experience in falling down from crow has taught me that all you get is a tiny boo boo on your nose or forehead.) I waited a couple of seconds watching the fear on her face and attempts to take one foot off the floor, place that foot on the floor, then lifting the other foot, and repeat the process. I said, "Don't worry, the floor won't hurt as much as you think it will. I've fallen many times, and believe me, it doesn't hurt that bad."
I was just trying to help the lovely young lady enjoy herself and laugh a little. She giggled and to my surprise suddenly took both her feet off - it must have been just for 1.5 seconds. But for those 1.5 seconds and for the remaining 20 minutes after that, her expression changed. She was surprised at herself and happy that she did something she thought she couldn't do.
It reminded me of the first time I was able to get into Kakasana.
Over two years of nearly daily practice and no success at getting both feet off the floor, forget staying up there and allowing my arms bear my weight. I can't recall what got to me, but during one Malasana, happily compressing my legs after a lot of Surya Namaskars, and thoughts miles away from arm balances, lost in my breath, something hit me. The thought of not being able to get my feet off the floor. Only because I was afraid I'd get hurt. Then I convinced myself that the worst that could happen is that I'd fall on my face and break my nose or get a neck sprain. I had gotten neck sprains just by sleeping all night, so I said this was not going to be any worse. I'll call 911 if something goes terribly wrong and made sure my phone was next to me, just in case. With that I got both feet off the floor.
So, I offered her steps to get into it. She seemed afraid of the floor - imagine the fear of falling flat on your face and hurting your head or breaking your neck. (My experience in falling down from crow has taught me that all you get is a tiny boo boo on your nose or forehead.) I waited a couple of seconds watching the fear on her face and attempts to take one foot off the floor, place that foot on the floor, then lifting the other foot, and repeat the process. I said, "Don't worry, the floor won't hurt as much as you think it will. I've fallen many times, and believe me, it doesn't hurt that bad."
I was just trying to help the lovely young lady enjoy herself and laugh a little. She giggled and to my surprise suddenly took both her feet off - it must have been just for 1.5 seconds. But for those 1.5 seconds and for the remaining 20 minutes after that, her expression changed. She was surprised at herself and happy that she did something she thought she couldn't do.
It reminded me of the first time I was able to get into Kakasana.
Over two years of nearly daily practice and no success at getting both feet off the floor, forget staying up there and allowing my arms bear my weight. I can't recall what got to me, but during one Malasana, happily compressing my legs after a lot of Surya Namaskars, and thoughts miles away from arm balances, lost in my breath, something hit me. The thought of not being able to get my feet off the floor. Only because I was afraid I'd get hurt. Then I convinced myself that the worst that could happen is that I'd fall on my face and break my nose or get a neck sprain. I had gotten neck sprains just by sleeping all night, so I said this was not going to be any worse. I'll call 911 if something goes terribly wrong and made sure my phone was next to me, just in case. With that I got both feet off the floor.
It's another thing that I didn't have enough arm strength back then to stay longer and so I did fall (and thus discovered that my fears about breaking necks and noses were unfounded). But it was only when I stopped worrying about consequences and trusted that nothing bad would happen that I couldn't handle, I was able to do something that I couldn't in two years.
That student was my reminder - and for that moment she became my teacher.
That if we want to do something for the first time but are unsure of the consequences, it is okay to try and fail and then try again in a different way, rather than not to have tried at all.
That after a certain point, we should just do what we want to do.
Enjoy the process rather than overthink and waste too much time cooking up conclusions that may never happen. Maybe laugh at ourselves and the situation while we are going through them.
That if we want to do something for the first time but are unsure of the consequences, it is okay to try and fail and then try again in a different way, rather than not to have tried at all.
That after a certain point, we should just do what we want to do.
Enjoy the process rather than overthink and waste too much time cooking up conclusions that may never happen. Maybe laugh at ourselves and the situation while we are going through them.
If nothing else, life might just become a lot more bearable and a little worth living that way.
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