get down to get up
Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up.
Terence McKenna
A concept I often find myself sharing with students mid-asana class is the importance of learning how to fall gracefully, because we will, in fact, eat sh!t sometimes. The best we can do is be physically and mentally prepared for if and when that happens so that a skinned knee doesn’t sweep us into a black hole of sadness, fear, suffering, and so on.
Similarly: we can’t avoid pain, but we can avoid suffering. We can’t stop or change the waves, but we can learn how to move with them.
One of the many reasons I love this work in wellness and this path of mindfulness is because it teaches us to be fluid like the seasons, to meet effort with ease, and to be present in each moment rather than avoiding or fearing or worrying about the past and future.
Just like preventative medicine, learning how to fall gracefully cultivates physical and mental strength in our bodies and minds so that, when we trip and fall, we do so with as much grace as humanly possible – or maybe we can at least access that grace in the aftermath, because sometimes when I fall it looks like the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz…
Here are a few practices I find helpful to keep us fluid, graceful, and strong:
- Stretch + strengthen. Move. Yoga. Walk jog run. Dance. Lift weights. Restore with yin yoga or a bath. Blend mobility and stability, flexibility and strength.
- Practice + play. Dedicate time and energy to your physical practice, and don’t forget to play so that we become neither overly stiff nor outrageously open. Concentrate and laugh.
- Look within + let it go. Dedicate time and energy to being still or meditation or working on yourself, and don’t forget to trust that all is unfolding as it needs to. Hold the vision and also allow the universe to guide you; remember that God/Divine//Source ultimately has our back.
What does falling gracefully mean for you, and what helps you both flow and stand strong?
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Photo by Ian: Þórufoss, Þingvellir National Park, Iceland.
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