For the past several weeks in my yoga class we have been learning to do handstands.  Last night, while attempting a handstand, I fell on my head!  I’m okay and I wasn’t hurt and what was even more amazing to me was that I wasn’t afraid.  As my arms were giving way and my balance was crumbling, there was no fear about falling.  I just fell.  Then I got up. 

I am often afraid in yoga when our teacher moves us into new poses or more intense versions of a pose.  My first thoughts are usually “no way,”  or  “I won’t be able to do that,” or “you have GOT to be insane to think that I will be able to get my body into that position” or in the case of doing handstands, plain old fear of falling on my head.  Most of the time there are more doubts than fears but every time I attempt any of the poses that bring up these feelings, I have been amazed at what I can do.  That’s because my body doesn’t know that it’s supposed to be afraid.  My body doesn’t know that it has limits.  My mind is what imposes the fears and the limits.

One of the beauties of doing yoga is that it is a practice.  Continually coming to the yoga mat and moving through the fears, doubts and limits has taught me to think differently about what I can or can’t do.  It has helped me to train my mind.  Instead of thinking “no way” or “I won’t be able to do that” I am now thinking “I wonder what would happen if I tried that.”  If something particularly fearful comes up (like handstands) I recognize the fear and gently say to myself “just try it and see how far you get.”  I didn’t get into the full handstand and for the first time I wasn’t afraid to try – more succinctly, I wasn’t afraid to fall.  Because I have been coming back to this pose over and over and over again, I have built up a trust and openness and even though I fell, I am not afraid to try again. 

This yoga example is also why I offer the 100 Day Challenge every year.  It is a chance to do something over and over and over for 100 days.  The opportunity to learn about yourself in these 100 days is so valuable.  The opportunity to learn about practicing something is priceless.  As you show up, day after day, eventually something will shift and you won’t be afraid to fall anymore! 

When have you been afraid?  What have you done or not done when the fears threaten to shut you down?  What have you learned from the 100 Day Challenge or any other practice that has supported you in getting up again?

Joyfully,

Deb

I can be a pretty impatient person – when I get an idea I want to put it into action right away but so often that isn’t really feasible (especially if I want to keep my marriage intact or not alienate all my friends!).  What the 100 Day Challenge keeps teaching me is the power of taking small steps everyday.  If you have been reading the blog posts about the Challenge, you might remember that I have had to revise my challenge slightly due to some back problems.  It was frustrating not to be able to go at my usual pace and I feared that I wouldn’t really be accomplishing anything.  To my great surprise and delight, I discovered that I had been accomplishing something.