We have the ability to change our experience based solely on how we perceive things. We can either hold on to our expectations or we can let them go and roll with the punches. The inward growth comes from the ability to be moldable, to be pliable, to be flexible on our mats and in everyday life.
How many of you have walked into a yoga class expecting one thing (your favorite teacher, the perfect temperature, the right music, the right intensity, etc) to put you in your perfect yoga mood, and been thrown a curve ball the second your mat rolls out? That'd be pretty much all of us (yoga teachers are no exception).
And in that moment you can choose to shift your perception, shift your expectations, and come right back to your perfect yoga mood, or you can let a little bump in your expectations turn into a roadblock and ruin your practice.
How often do we create these unnecessary roadblocks for ourselves? The answer is: ALL THE TIME.
It might not be in a yoga class, we might be pretty bendy there. The suffering might come in everyday life; in our relationships, in our work place, with total strangers, with the guy who just cut you off...think about it. Where are your expectations creating roadblocks in front of your peace? Where can you shift and come back to the calm?
It's no new news that yoga teaches us a lot about ourselves. It's a long journey...one that takes a lifetime. The goal is to eventually have no expectations...but, let's be honest, we all create them on our mats and off. So until the day when we no longer need to plan it all out, we need to learn to let it all go instead. Sometimes the most powerful experiences come from the places and circumstances we least expect them to.
Namaste,
Donielle
