Get to Stretching Yourself

Last week was the first time I tried Yoga again. I vaguely remember trying it out years ago, though just for fun.

This time, I was thinking about how challenging it can be, and how I can use it to have a better life. I went into it wanting to give my best to do the poses and learn.

Not to mention our impromptu mentor was quite the drill instructor. I remember twisting myself into pretzel like positions, all the while thinking “I can do this all day! what pain? all day!”

And it was so rewarding to be able to do the poses, stretch some muscles, and really, and I mean REALLY, breathe.

Stretch yourself out of your comfort zone

I wasn’t used to doing those poses. Those muscles weren’t used to being stretched and put into those positions. There was pain, and in some cases, soreness and tightness. Like my body didn’t want to stretch anymore. But still, I was able to do the poses and positions.

Life can happen to us. Situations and events that we aren’t fully equipped or experienced to deal with. Dive into it anyway. Allow yourself to be stretched. Expand your mind, heart, and body to do what needs to be done, and to endure what needs to be endured. Real growth is experienced in the heat of the moment, in the moments of stretching and expanding, and doing.

In those moments, remember to breathe. Breathing is power and control. Don’t give in to the panic and urgency, and breathe.

Keep calm. Most of the time, our mind jumps to conclusions and to beliefs that are not necessarily true, especially about what’s the worst that could happen. Keep calm and breathe, and go through it.

Embrace The Suck

The poses weren’t easy. We did some beginner poses, and we also did intermediate poses. For a total beginner like me, with the stiff joints and knees that I had, the poses were a challenge. There was pain, and there was discomfort. My body and mind wanted to just give up so badly, and curl up into the comfortable positions it had always known before that yoga session.

And if I did that, I wouldn’t grow, I would have just stayed the same, and there would be no growth.

If I always shied away from pain, discomfort, and even boredom, then I wouldn’t grow. I wouldn’t try new, challenging, and exciting things, always sticking to what’s tried, tested, and safe.

We were wet, the surface we were doing yoga on was rough. It scratched at my knees. My joints were tight, I had not done yoga seriously before, and the poses were challenging.

But I wanted to succeed.

So whatever was thrown my way, I did my best to shut out, accept, and just get on with doing the poses and breathing the best that I can.

Just get on and do it, whatever it takes. Embrace the suck.

Maintain Focus

There were a ton of things I could be thinking about when doing the yoga poses and meditation. The uncomfortable feeling of being soaked from head to toe, the tightness of the joints, the pain, the challenge, the “how the hell am I going to do that?!”

A lot of things enter into our mind during the many situations we face. It is important to maintain focus of the end goal, and on our execution, or what I’m doing in the here and now to get to my goal.

To get to the end goal, which was the meditation pose, I focused on my breathing, and shutting out negative thoughts and pain. Focus on the end goal, and what it takes to get there. To the point that nothing else mattered to me at that moment except what helped me get to my end goal. Focus on what’s important, and on what helps in the moment.

Barriers are mostly mental

The human body can do incredible things, and can handle incredible stress. But most of the time, we feel that we can’t do it, for many different reasons. Lack of experience, preparation, strength, whatever. I felt that way. I had very tight knees, underdeveloped muscles, and a general lack of stretching and exercise.

And I really heard my head telling me these things. And what the mind believes, the body follows.

In doing the yoga meditation and poses, I just dove straight into it, and believed that I could do it, or at the very least, I’d do everything that I could, my very best, to do it.

I literally had to tell myself that I could do it, that I was capable of achieving it, that I had what it takes. I had to make myself believe that.

Barriers are mostly mental. More often that not, we talk ourselves out of doing things that we feel are enjoyable or important for us, because we believe we can’t do it, or that we don’t deserve it.

Talk yourself into it. If you believe in your mind first, then your body will follow.

Get a Mentor

In doing the yoga meditations, it was great that we were being taught by someone who knew the poses, and was genuinely interested and passionate about yoga. There was someone who pointed out errors in form, approaches to how we can do the poses, and was generally there to correct us and encourage us.

If you want to excel at something, getting someone to mentor you can really help. They can teach you approaches and practices to learn and achieve faster. They can point our errors and mistakes, corrections, and literally shave time off of your learning curve. They can also be there to encourage you, and to affirm progress, or tell you if you’re not making enough progress.

Your mentor doesn’t even have to really be an expert, just someone who’s further along the path that you want to travel.