I am missing my Melbourne yoga teacher, Gena Kenny (from Ohana Yoga) like mad. Gena gave me a love of yoga that eluded me until about six months ago. Largely due to her pure and loving heart she is able to facilitate a practice that feeds the mind and soul whilst working through the body. It has been a revelation for me.
So now I’m in California and I’ve been looking for a Gena and I found Roxanne. As I was stretching my briefly forgotten muscles (the last two weeks have been so crazy with my book launch and all, yoga fell by the wayside) Roxanne gently encouraged me to push further as my muscles relaxed and softened.
I realised this was a metaphor for life. No sooner do we get everything in our life together, everything working well and happily going along, then our circumstances shift, demanding we make some sort of adjustment to accommodate the change.
Quantum physics has proved there is no matter, that there is only energy that vibrates at different frequencies (the slower the vibration the more ‘solid’ or ‘material’ energy appears). But the thing about energy, unlike the solid objects energy assumes in the physical world, is that it is never still. It constantly flows, moving in ever repeating cycles and patterns.
When we take the time to observe it, life reflects this movement. It constantly shifts and changes, moving in both small and more significant ways, constantly requiring adjustment.
To progress in yoga, we must deepen our breath and become more aware of the small movements of our muscles, enabling them to stretch further and become more flexible. As our bodies adjust, small changes in our practice are demanded of us so that it continues to provide as much benefit to our bodies.
Life can be so difficult at times that it takes a lot of effort to find some level of peace and contentment. So much so, that when our circumstances shift (we don’t get the promotion or pay rise we had planned on; our child morphs overnight into the outspoken and bolshy teenager we dreaded; our partner betrays us; our aged parent becomes ill or dies; or any other version of ‘shit happens’ that might apply to our particular circumstances) we feel resentful of the adjustment it demands of us.
Our initial reaction may be to resist the change, to fight for the preservation of the status quo. We worked so hard for it we feel we can’t just let it slip through our fingers. But this approach will never work for us because it defies the very nature of life, which is movement and growth, and will only ever lead to more tears.
When shit happens, just accept it and move with it. Stretch that little bit further, reach a little bit higher, keeping your gaze high. Push through the initial pain to a new way of being. This is how growth - physical, mental and spiritual evolution - occurs.
As Roxanne says, Namaste.
