The first time someone very wise (Tara Stiles!) told me that if something was too hard, it probably wasn’t right, and that perhaps I should consider not doing it (she phrased it much more eloquently), my reaction was: that would be such a lazy way to live life!  But, then when I finally started living that way: moving in the direction of things that were coming easily and moving away from things that were a struggle, it was a whole new universe! Life became such a happier, incredible (even, gasp, enjoyable) experience!

Now, I am not saying that finding ease is easy for everyone. It’s not.  For those of us who were raised to be type-A, go-getters, alphas, ambitious, call it what you will, letting go of the desire to obtain whatever it is you set out to attain, to change course for what may be a better thing, can be very difficult.

At the beginning of my yoga practice, I was so upright in my wide-legged seated forward fold that the thought of ever coming anywhere near the ground with my forearms, let alone torso was just plain crazy.  I was told that if I just kept showing up to my mat, and breathing and trying to let go, that one day (perhaps not in this lifetime, I thought), the muscles would eventually release.  So here is the thing: when you see someone flat against the ground in a wide legged forward bend, most likely, they did not get there because their first go at it, it just happened.  They are easy in their forward bends because they took the time to show up to their mat, to their body: they took the time to find their breath, and they allowed for their body to let go.  One day, after showing up to my mat every day for many months and not pushing or pulling to desperately get to the ground (which I certainly did at the beginning), my muscles simply released with my breath as I moved forward, and there I was, on the ground.  It didn’t change my life, but it was neat to see that showing up and not forcing does create change.

There was a time when I used to get incredibly annoyed when people would constantly say to me, “Oh, it’s so easy for you, you never had to struggle” or “You are so lucky, because you are so naturally flexible” or “Must be nice to have the genetics to be so muscular”.  Really?  Who actually believes that anyone just waltzes into a yoga studio for the first time, or anywhere in life, with the innate ability to do anything? In order to win the lottery, one has to buy a lottery ticket, right?  In order to find ease, one has to practice ease; for some people, that is a lot of work.  Ease might not “just happen”, especially if you are impatient to “be easy”.  For many people, finding ease takes working through a lot of old, long-instilled patterns, and letting go of ideas or habits that no longer suit his or her current life.

My yoga practice is a constant evolution: a balancing act.  I show up, every day, and I work with what I have in any given moment.  I take the small steps to strengthen, lengthen, open and release. I do what feels right, what feels “easy”, and I have learned to dial back, and steer clear of anything that doesn’t feel right.  To me, there is nothing lazy about that.

Practice showing up for yourself: every day. Practice ease. That is when  real change can happen.  Ease may not come easily to everyone, but ease is easy if you let it be.  What do you think?  Do you think that “following the path with less resistance” is lazy? Is ease easy for you?

xx, Heidi

Before I had the good fortune to discover Strala I was of the very miss-guided mind set that it wasn’t a good yoga practice if I didn’t sweat my body weight (being someone who is always cold this is not easy to do) and leave feeling absolutely exhausted and perhaps wake up the next morning sore.  Harder equaled better.

As this was how the practice of yoga was initially presented to me, it didn’t occur to me that it could be any other way.  I actually thought that yoga, and the peace of mind that the physical practice brought, could only be obtained through punishing my body and beating myself to a pulp.

Not surprisingly, I sustained multiple injuries in my practice when it was still very new: pushing my body beyond its limits, not listening to what it was saying, ignoring pain over and over again.  In the community I was in, injuries were practically worn like badges- proof that you were a seasoned, dedicated, even “hardcore yogi”.  And then one sad day, I was being “adjusted” by an instructor with whom I had been practicing for years, when I heard the two loudest, most sickening pops, followed by the feeling of fire in my right hamstring.  Well, that stopped me in my tracks; literally- two out of the three hamstring muscles had been torn.  I was pretty much immobile for a while.  My ego, that I was convinced I didn’t have, took a pretty big hit. I could barely walk, much less do down dog or warrior one.

So, I slowed down.  I took one breath at a time.  When my body felt like it was ready, I started going to Relax classes, taking it slow.  Very gingerly, after months, I tested out some Strong classes, and came to see first hand what I always say, hear, read and write about: it is the how, not the what.  It didn’t matter what class I was taking or what pose I was doing, what mattered was how I was approaching each moment in each class: listening to my body, and moving accordingly. Strala provided me with the space and environment to do so: never pulling me or asking me to push beyond my personal limits.

Much to my surprise, the more I took a less aggressive approach and came at every moment with ease, the stronger and more capable I became physically (I like to think mentally as well.)  All of a sudden, things that I had once put effort into became very easy, requiring little to no effort at all.  The less I pushed and forced, the more I became open to receive. The more I continue to seek out the ease, the stronger I become.

Have you experienced either side of this?  Have you pushed yourself beyond your limits?  How have you learned to let go and allow things come without force?  If it sounds crazy (or maybe even lazy) to you, try it out sometime: find the strength in ease!

xx.

Heidi