Work With What You Have
By Theresa Shay
“This is just how I am,” you say, as you realize that some extremely tight place in your body (or tough corner of your mind) just doesn’t want to shift. Maybe this feels like honoring reality. Your energy, you say, could be better spent addressing some aspect of yourself with more potential for change. What’s the point, after all, of trying to stretch into something that you are not?
If any of this sounds familiar, look out: your mind is playing a trick on you.
A wise yoga student brought the question forward regarding her posterior thigh muscles. Given how tight they are, always have been, and probably always will be, is Leg Stretch even worth practicing, she wondered?
Stepping toward even the most engrained rivers of tension that won’t budge is not only recommended, but also necessary on the spiritual journey you are taking through yoga. In so many ways, exactly that place of tightness holds the gifts you seek as you imagine yourself whole, content, and at ease.
When a tightness or weakness gets your attention, you’ve already made an energetic shift. Understand from the get-go that the transformation you experience from moving into your challenge has nothing to do with resolving that challenge, except that the process of being with your obstacle will alter it.
Our tightest places are our most powerful teachers.
You must be willing to experience your resistance and greet it with presence…not judgement, not resignation, not even hope it will some day be different. Just be present and trust the journey to unfold.
On a physical level, avoiding your biggest areas of challenges because you see zero change could lead to an even greater difficulty in that area down the road. What’s tight – unexamined - becomes tighter. What’s weak – unexplored - becomes weaker. Don’t assume your work will shift what you can “do” in that area, but at least keep nurturing the tight place so you don’t move deeper in the direction of the pull. Sometimes the work is to maintain what you have. If you could be as mobile and vibrant on the last day of your life as you are today, they would say you were in great shape in the end. Not losing ground might be all you need to live well. And maybe this “being with” will encourage the shift you can’t imagine yet. You’ll have to keep going to find out.
More importantly, experiencing how tight (or weak, scared, mad, impatient, overwhelmed etc.) you are, can transform what you haven’t yet realized you do have the power to address. The feelings that rise when you breathe into the impenetrable places reveal your patterns when you bump up against stubborn people, immovable barriers, hard realities, and impossible expectations.
Instead of avoiding the places that feel stuck, use them to find out how you can soften amidst life’s hardness. Find out what it feels like to bring compassion to those who suffer. Discover what thought or feeling follows the familiar one, “This is just the way I am.” Find out who you are beyond the stuck place.
Being willing to explore what lies beneath the obvious expands your awareness and your energy. You can’t let go of what you haven’t yet noticed you are holding. Very likely you will find something you no longer wish to carry. In this, you have begun the change.
Theresa Shay is the founding director of TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania, where she teaches weekly yoga and meditation online and trains others to teach TriYoga®. Each week, she shares wisdom cultivated from decades of TriYoga study and practice.
Learn more about her here. Theresa can be reached at Theresa@PennsylvaniaYoga.com. Find her on Instagram @theresa_of_triyoga for more inspiration and light.