“Eat Bitter”(吃苦), and Take it Easy生活: 健康和养生- 吃苦和放松

I don’t always get the essence of yoga until I feel pain. I don’t enjoy pain, don’t get me wrong – but I don’t avoid it either.

Ever since I started the practice of yoga five years ago, I’ve come to appreciate the framework and characteristics of yoga, which really mirror the power and the potential of the opposite forces of life–the forces of mind and body, pain and endurance, arms shooting up while feet staying grounded, lying flat on the back, knees bent and body turning to the left while arms stretching out and looking to the right.

I’m no yoga master, far from it.  I’m merely a student who’s still trying to understand the key to endurance – especially while feeling pain during a pose.

Here’s a case in point.

Earlier this week while I was attending my regular yoga class (Vinyasa Flow), I encountered pain while holding a pose. It was a Parivrtta Prsvakonasan (revolved side angle pose.) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Parivrtta_Parsvakonasana-Revolved_Side_Angle_Pose.jpg

This posture is supposed to be great for circulation around the organs and the spinal column. But this pose was particularly hard for me on this day.

“Inhale, Exhale one, Inhale, Exhale two,” Lisa, our yoga teacher was chanting this repetitive phrase while walking around the room.

“Inhale, Exhale two” I found myself chanting along with her as Lisa was tiptoeing behind me.
It was as if she knew I was hurting in my neck; she gently put her hand to guide my face upward – “Look up” she whispered.

I had been looking straight and feeling strain down my neck. Almost instantly, the tension in my neck from holding that pose was resolved.

At that moment, the Chinese phrase “eat bitter” ((吃苦)) flashed across my mind. I realized that I was focusing on “eating bitter” meaning enduring pain in the neck as a way to develop strength and endurance – literally wrong-headed. As soon as my head tilted upwards in the same direction of my eyes, my body felt at ease. In that instant, the American catchphrase “take it easy” somehow touched me in a new way.

I realize that pain in the body can be caused by wrongheaded focus – as true in my case. But the end of pain can come once I redirect my mind to lean in a different direction. While “eat bitter” (吃苦)has taught me endurance, I find ease far more desirable when I take my mind off pain by looking up!