When was the last time someone told you to relax? Did you listen? What difference did it make if you had?
It was about 6:30 a.m. this morning after I had already stretched, inhaled and exhaled through a dozen round of up-dog, down-dog and Warrior-II positions; I thought I was ready to move to a more difficult pose. With Evan my yoga instructor observing quietly nearby, I spread my legs two and a half feet apart, shifting one foot at a 45 degree angle to the other foot in the back, lifting both arms behind my back, preparing my hands to clasp before leaning forward to touch my right knee with my forehead. But wait…I got stuck. My hands wouldn’t clasp in a prayer pose. My breathing intensified.
“Relax, relax, relax!” Evan came up next to me, putting his hands over mine trying to re-position them. But I was fighting back because I wanted to find my way there.
“Relax!” He blurted out; I finally listened.
As soon as I “relaxed” and released the tension that tied my tangled hands, Evan was able to grab my left hand and placed it on a much higher spot of my upper back.
“Wow…incredible…” I was instantly shocked but thrilled that my hand could reach that high!
Impressed by Evan’s skillful maneuver, I became mentally ready for more commands.
“Firm up your fingers (my right hand) like this, don’t let them open.”
I immediately copied that, allowing Evan to slip my firmly closed fingers (right hand) around my back and to slap them onto my open fingers (left hand). Now my hands are in a prayer pose.
“Here you go. Line up your thumbs, let your thumbs direct you to bend forward.”
Almost instantly, my right hand felt loose like a rubber glove yet tightly locked in a handgrip now pressing my upper body to fold over my legs. Gradually, my forehead was inching closer and closer to my knee. It was sheer magic.
Looking back, I realized I was resenting the order to “relax.” I never liked being told to relax because it implied that I was too uptight, and I didn’t like to think that I was uptight. But I was!
For a long time, I always thought that I needed to fire up my focus for challenges, facing tough work with a tough mind. What comes to mind is the Chinese concept of “eat bitter” (吃苦), or endurance (忍). The more one can endure with a determined mind, the more resilient one can become. I like that idea. But I was too straight and stubborn in my interpretation of how best to apply that thinking. If I didn’t listen to my yoga teacher while I was stuck and struggling with that pose, I might not have realized that relaxing the mind relaxes the body. When the body is softened, it eases into the hard task. Once my mind takes it easy, my body produces result. I have always loved result, who doesn’t? But I know the key to result, is practice. Sustaining a state of mind that can automatically breathe “relax” is not easy, but it’s a worthwhile practice. I’m heading back to yoga at 6 am tomorrow – let’s hope I can keep this up!