So there I was, balanced on one leg, other one straight out behind me, trying to hold an elegant T shape while sweat dripped steadily off my nose. (There is absolutely no way to phrase this delicately, so I won’t even bother.)
Now the sweating thing wasn’t surprising considering that the room was heated to 98 degrees and we’d been at this for nearly 40 minutes already, but what WAS surprising was the sudden, gobsmacking awareness that my hot yoga class was a direct reflection of my whole life.
“How you do anything is how you do everything. Your “character” or “nature” just refers to how you handle all the day-to-day things in life, no matter how small.” ~ Derek Sivers, from “Character Predicts Everything”
As I righted myself and stood at the end of my mat, the thoughts gushed to the front of my mind …
“If I’m backing off doing the work here, how much ‘backing off’ do I do in life?”
I closed my eyes, stilled the gasp of OMG! in my throat, and allowed the thought to blossom into full-blown awareness.
How you do anything is how you do everything
How you do anything is how you do every thing!
My tendency to pull back from the difficult poses, to come out of them before the times up, was a clearly and distinctly reflected in how I’d been handling my life.
- A reluctance to “just go for it” showed up not only in my yoga practice but in my business too;
- My lack of follow through was probably what caused the death of my network marketing career/s;
- My fear of looking anything less than an expert (ie falling on my face) meant that I didn’t easily try anything new;
- Comparing myself to the others in the class either gave that horrid voice in my head another stick to beat me with,
or it goaded me into doing something stupid/life-threatening, like a back bend, in an effort to look good.
Can you relate, angel?
Doesn’t have to be in yoga or business, could be life in general …
Maybe you have a habit of avoiding confrontation … so you never ask for that raise, or tell your mother-in-law to stop criticizing your housekeeping?
Maybe you default to the worst case scenario … so you set yourself up for defeat before you’ve even started, so you never ‘go for gold’ and your pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy?
Perhaps all those late school assignments now show up at in missed deadlines and failed diets?
How you do anything is how you do everything
In yoga, they talk about ‘leaning into your edge’…
finding that spot where you feel you can’t … go … any… further …
and then holding it,
breathing in stillness,
allowing the discomfort of a new position to ease and become the new norm.
Darling heart, here what I know now …
If you constantly pull back from the edge,
you’ll never find out what you’re capable of.
How often does this happen in life?
We feel the awkwardness of doing something different, the discomfort of a new diet/workout schedule/ home business commitment, and we pull back.
We find an excuse to retreat to ‘normal’.
We never find out how far we can go.
The best way to lean into your edge is first to be aware that it’s there.
So here’s how to ease into this new go-getter, jump-in-with-both-feet persona.
When you try something new, something scary-but-exciting, something you know will lead you one step closer to Creating Your Incredible Life and/or Business …
And you back away.
Take a deep breath, sweetheart. You’ve got this.
Notice the discomfort, the fear, the I-really-don’t-want-to-do-this.
Look at it dispassionately … be the Watcher rather than the Experiencer.
Does the discomfort come from an actual threat (to muscle, to reputation, to survival), or is it just a reflection of your own resistance to change, and the chaos/uncertainty/possible-humiliation that comes with it?
Don’t drop back.
Hold still.
Allow yourself to acclimatize to this new position/state/being-ness.
Breathe.
And then look at it again.
Chances are you’re further ahead than you were before, and it doesn’t feel so bad.
Suddenly you’re thinking this could become the new normal ..
and you’re touching your eyebrow with your foot.
So awareness is useless without application, right?
This goddess is a recovering ‘Shelf Help’ addict …
(“Hello, my name is Jacqui and I buy every new self help book that’s published but never apply any of it.”)
so I was determined to USE my new-found wisdom ~ not just let it be a passing brilliance that fades and disappears.
I began to focus on ‘leaning into my edge’ … in my business, my coaching practice, my yoga practice, my friendships, my love life, my self care, my being.
Focusing on following through, following up.
Faith instead of flight.
Breathing rather than bailing.
And I was rewarded with more of everything that mattered … more deep connections, more soaring self-confidence, more courage, more clients, more money.
More being able to stand my ground.
More being able to speak up. Speak out. Say no.
I found more flexibility. More “stretch to the edges”. More “let’s see where this goes.”
And the upshot of all this?
At nearly 50 years old, my life is more exciting/fulfilling/prosperous/satisfying than ever before,
AND I can touch almost my eyebrow with my foot.
Bliss-ings,
