Flexibility is usually the first thing that comes up. “Yoga, oh, I can’t do yoga. I can’t even touch my toes.”
I’m happy to say, as you probably have discovered, there are no yoga police checking to see if you can touch your toes at the door of a yoga class. Even in life there is rarely a need to touch your toes. The toe touching comment is more a reference to a measure of flexibility. While no one is checking for toe touching capabilities, daily our flexibility is tested.
As with core strength, and balance, these physical attributes also reflect our inner makeup. My belief is that the body is a mere holograph of what we have developed in our minds, and hearts. It seems true that as my body gets strong, I have more courage and my voice about what matters to me gets clearer and stronger. When my physical balance gets more refined I become better at knowing what to say yes and what to say no to in my life.
Flexibility stays true to this also. I used to say “I am not flexible.” And this rang true in many areas of my life beyond my hips and hamstrings. Every time I said that phrase, I was embedding even deeper this notion of inflexibility. That did not serve me well.
But it was embarrassing. Especially when I was in yoga teacher training. I was supposed to be flexible if I was a yoga teacher right?
The fact is that unless you are extending muscles with regularity, they are contracting and getting shorter and tighter, like a rubber band that has been around for a really long time.
Muscles, and our minds, need to stretched.
Muscles and our minds have one very unique capability unlike that rubber band. We can become more flexible, and the state of your body has a direct connection to the state of your mind.
The spine is the first place where flexibility reveals itself. The turn of your head, and twist of your torso, the side-to-side movement and forward and back movement (these are the six directions) reveal a lot.
Get curious this week about your body, your mind and your words. They are all connected. Where can you relax and gently soften into a tight place? Where can you hold a space or position that feels uncomfortable and breathe into more room, and more options?
One last word thought about flexibility that I often share with our team. A life worth living is not usually about just playing the saxophone, knowing the notes and reading the music.
More often it’s about being able to play improvisational jazz. Being ready for whatever happens with an attitude of flexibility composed of love, wonder and delight. That is where things unfold with ease… and joy.
What kind of music will you play today?
Be well…it’s a state of mind.