Stretching My Soul

My head was up, my arms and legs stretched as far as they could go, my index finger and thumb around my big toe. It was a yoga time and the position of the moment was a doozey.

I’ve been taking a Hatha Yoga class that has been stretching me physically, mentally and spiritually.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the teacher said, “Wherever you are is perfect.”

Boom. For some reason, my thoughts shattered. I woke up.

Although I hadn’t realized it, my mind had been screaming things like, “Am I doing it right?” and “Oh, gosh, I’m out of alignment, I’m just sure of it." "She's going to see me and tell me I'm doing it wrong!"

Heidi’s simple statement brought me right back into the heart of what yoga was all about for me when it first came into my life so long ago.

At the time I was studying with a very gentle teacher Jane Morris. Jane taught the very gentle, deeply renewing art of Kripalu Yoga. Even moreso, Jane taught--by her raw, honest example--what it really means to accept yourself just as you are.

When I am doing something out of my element, I find I am often very self-critical. I find myself feeling tense. Am I doing okay? I want to achieve. I want to be perfect. It's an old habit, slow to go.

Somehow, a sense of shame about doing things "wrong" once settled into my being and I have yet to get it out. When something reawakens it, I’m plunked in the middle of all the early insecurities and stresses that went along with it way back when.

Then someone says something like Heidi did this morning: “Wherever you are is where you are supposed to be” and the child in me melts away. The adult steps forward—the adult who has learned a bit of wisdom through the trials and tribulations, clearing and cleaning, self-evaluation and self-absorption life has sent her way.

It was so nice to be reminded not only what yoga is all about, but also life. The only way to stretching beyond where we are is to love where we’ve been. Namaste.

(See my website www.dreamcatching.net for a great quote about this.)