(This is the 6th of the Eight Universal Principles for Stepping up to the Edge by Baron Baptiste taken from his book - “Journey into Power”.)
Photo Credit: Unsplash / Dane Wetton
Disclaimer: THAT IS NOT ME!
There's a lot of yoga poses I can't do, not for the lack of trying, and I’ve come to grips with the limitations of my body.
This principle of "think less be more" resonates with me a lot when I'm on my yoga mat.
I used to compare myself to other bodies on the other mats because I’ve fear that they will judge me for not being able to do the pose, I’m not good enough and weak. Those voices in my head are just my ego talking and me wallowing in my NOWHERE world. .
Over the years, I’ve learnt to listen to my body, because at the end of the day, this is MY MAT and MY PRACTICE; and nobody else. I do make an effort to take the shape of the pose and then I play around with it and decide whether to stay or back off.
And yes, a little bit thinking is involved in the process, but once I'm in the pose, I learnt to let go and just be.
“In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.
”
Let go of “I can’t”
Where on your mat, are you thinking too much? Where do you struggle?
Can you drop the words “I can’t” and just do the pose, the best way you can at that moment in time?
Doing the pose means take the cues to get into the shape, do what you need to get comfortable in the pose, and from there, just let go.
Baron says “the key to learning yoga poses is to get your brain out of it.
You know what to do. Just do it and flow.
Breathe in
Surrender.
Breathe out.
Receive.
“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.
”
Let go of perfection
If you find yourself procrastinating, overwhelm with choices or or you’ve run out of creative juices - pause. Be a Yes to Imperfection, give up your worries, and Trust your gut feel.
Surrender and you will Receive.
Let go of getting it right
We are so fixated on getting “It” right. WE do a lot of things, we obtain knowledge to get “it” right. But how often do we do the things we know? Sometimes too much information equals to overwhelm city.
What if you exercise your “letting go” muscle and trust that everything will be ok, and if it’s not ok, it will be ok?
Surrendering takes courage and you’ve got it.
“When you let go mentally, there is a shift physically. Doubt your doubts and they vanish. Feel your fears and they fade. Let go of your worries and they fail to materialise. What will it take for us to really get that life is about letting go?”
Photo Credit: Unsplash / Bram
Where in your life do you have Difficulty letting go?
Are you tired of doing the same thing over and over again, with the same outcome? What are you holding on to?
Don’t you want to stop DOING and just BE YOURSELF and surrender to the universe’s will and magic?
Really - what’s the point of worrying over something you have no control over, especially what people think of you. Who cares?
What is surrendering but just putting your hands up and saying “that’s enough”. It doesn’t mean you do nothing and give up totally; but it's a practice of letting go of what holds you back so you can move forward with compassion and without brute force.
Playing with your Edge
The edge is the end of your comfort zone - the line between “safe” and “unsafe”. It’s where fear thrives.
When you play around the edges of your fears, you are trying to quieten the voices in your mind (ego) space, and learning be in pure listening to your heart.
Getting over the edge is not always about going for it and pushing beyond your limit.
Sometimes your edge is learning to do less.
Less Thinking. Less Doing. Less fixing. Less Planning.
And be now here!
“
The edge is where we come up right up against ourselves and what we can do and be. It is the boundary between where we are and where we grow, the place of comfortable discomfort, where all the growing and healing happens. The edge is the point in every pose when you are still within your capacities but are challenging yourself to go just a little bit farther. Stepping up to this edge and daring to leap is how you break through and thus break with old ways of being.
”
Journal This:
How mindful am I even of the smallest detail of my days? Am I present enough to notice all the actions I take?
How can I create a life that I want? What are the actions that I need to take, in order to make that shift?