Grievances With My Body

I have been reading and fully enjoying, along with Oprah and well over 2 million others, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. What a powerful book!

“The past has no power to stop you from being present now.
Only your grievance about the past can do that.
And what is a grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion.”
(A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle)

I read this quote this morning and it struck a chord as a teacher. How often do we see our students (and ourselves) stuck in the past when doing yoga. “My bad shoulder/knee/hip.” “My weak core.” “My tight hamstrings.” “My tension and stress.” “I can’t do that pose.” “I will never be strong enough/flexible enough to do that pose.” When you think about it, these are merely grievances, baggage of old thought and emotion. When we continue to label our body with old thoughts, we keep the body stuck in the old consciousness. As teachers, we can guide our students into a new awareness, to begin seeing their body fresh each day.

How? Teach the same old pose in a brand new way. Instead of focusing on the hamstring stretch in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), focus on the contraction of the quadriceps. Instead of speaking of “releasing tension”, speak of “creating space”. You can also encourage them to change their language to a more compassionate speech that leaves space for growth. Instead of “my bad shoulder”, try “I am still learning what my shoulder has to teach me.” (Speaking from someone who had hamstring pain for 13 years, it was this shift that finally guided me to the other side – very powerful!) Or, “I am learning what I need to create space in my hamstrings.” I also find breaking down a difficult pose into bite size pieces makes it less scary. Language is incredibly powerful! Moving past our grievances opens us up to a brand new life!