YogaI am beginning to notice a pattern in my learning:
- First, yoga presents two (seemingly) mutually exclusive goals, such as (from Anusara alignment principles) pulling the lower ribs in and up while opening the shoulders back and down, or fanning the sitz bones back while also lengthening the tailbone down.
- Then, I struggle for a long time with the two concepts, often only achieving one at a time.
- Finally, in a beautiful moment of enlightenment, I learn how to open and create enough space for both to be true. I can have my ribs in and my shoulders back. Some might call this finding balance, I call it creating space.
I have been looking for examples of this pattern in other areas of my life, and lately, they seem numerous. For example, I recently had an argument with my boyfriend over something that he does that annoys me. To very glibly summarize: he thinks I'm too easily annoyed and I think he's rude, he wants me to just deal with it and I want him to change his behavior. Our conclusion was to accept that we're both right: he tries to be more polite and I try not to be so easily annoyed. We found a balance in which we're both trying. I know, I am over-analyzing a very silly fight, but it's true. If only he was trying to be less rude, then I would have my shoulders back with my ribs sticking out, and we would still have problems. If I was just trying not to be annoyed, I would have my ribs in and my shoulders forward, and we would still have problems. We create the space within ourselves for both my side and his side of the argument to be true. Yoga is again, the great practice that teaches compassion.
