flexibility

i read the article below and it reminded me of my situation. I wish i were flexible in yoga, but i'm not. my muscles are so tight because of the weight lifting all these years at the gym, that i keep on working on that and i have a long way to go, although i feel better. If i practised more often i would have been better. 

Remember try not to be hard on yourself. Focus, give your best shot but don't be too strict.

so here it goes from: my creative fling

The other day after teaching a yoga class, one of my students came up to me and asked how long it would take to get flexible. I thought it was the best questions ever and something worth talking about.

My answer was simple. I told him I wasn't sure -- I was still waiting. Maybe in 50 years?

That answer wasn't meant to discourage but instead to stress the importance of taking the focus off the competition, off the getting "better", off the drive we have in this society to focus on the end instead of the journey.

I guess I could joke a little about it with him because I get it, I'm not a flexible person, I'm strong. My muscle tissue is tight and though I have been practicing for 15 years, more or less, I am still working on my flexibility. It has definitely improved but it is my life-long homework.

I've had to accept that opening happens over time, opening of our physical, mental, and emotional bodies. We can look at Yoga Sutra 1.14 for inspiration:

Sa Tu Dirgha Kala Nairantarya Satkarasevito Dridha Bhumih

In Sanskrit this is saying, step by step we find our way. Our yoga practice becomes firmly grounded when it has been practiced for a long time with sincere effort.

So instead of focusing on getting more flexible as soon as possible, go into yoga class, do the best you can do that day, soak in the information you can soak in that day, and let go of where you think you should be. Be okay with where you are right now. Only when you can accept where you are right now can you move forward. And be okay moving forward once inch at a time.

I remind myself of this every time I step on the mat.