Today on the way to school, my daughter Sienna (7) rode her bike ahead as Max (4)trailed behind with myself and baby Leo. He could not keep up. “my legs are tired, i am cold, i am hot, i am thirsty, i am itchy……..”

The real problem was his training wheels were holding him back.

“let’s take those off”

” I can’t”

“look you can touch the ground with your feet, that means if you lose your balance you can put your feet down”

I will not go through the entirety of the argument as some of you can relate to what arguing with a 4 year old is like.

Yesterday i got back from Grande Prairie and on the last day of teacher training i always ask my students to revisit their commitments for the course, reasons for taking the course and their goals and if there is any where where they are not showing up i say “now is the time” or “lets do this”

Today in my corporate class  during the challenging warrior sequence, balancing poses and “crow pose” my cues are the same

“how do you show up for yourself”

“Right now your brain is probably giving you a million excuses for why you cant do this, come back to your breath,clear your mind, listen to your body and it may just give you some reasons how you can do this”

Yoga is about creating space. I often tell my teachers that teaching yoga is about holding space. It is not merely creating space in your muscles and joints, also known as stretching, however more importantly it is about creating space in your mind. If your body is tight and ridged the joints can no longer execute there fullest range of motion and yes this will not only effect your performance but also your health, as everything in the body is connected. When the body gets ridged, so does your heart, your lungs and your kidneys.

However, if you have no room in your mind, that is you are to tied to your opinions, dogma, history, complaints, criticisms and excuses, you have zero room for improvement, love, new ideas, creativity  and transformation.  If you want to be happier, live better, get stronger, balance on your hands, save money, then create space for these possibilities. Clear out the excuses, be honest with yourself and get out of your own way.

I could fall, I could stumble, he/she might leave me, I might go bankrupt, they might not like me

Sound Familiar?

But consider this………

You might not fall or you might fall but you may just get back up and nail it, you might not stumble, they may not leave or they may leave and in fact probably will as everybody does at some point (death) and it may hurt but the hurt reminds you of experience of joy and love, you might become the next household name, they may like you in fact they may love and respect you.

The point is you don’t know what you don’t know.

Dont get me wrong here. I am not saying blindly throw yourself into everything. Fear is what prevents us from jumping off the side of a building, however sometimes this fear is not real life or death fear. Sometimes this fear is not saving us, it is limiting us. Its a fear of looking good. But thats stupid because we have no idea what people are thinking anyway, in fact they are probably trying to impress you as well.

So how do we know?

We feel it out, which implies we get out of our heads and into our bodies and hearts

We become ninjas, we gracefully but not forcefully move forward, this is true power.

We stay calm, this allows us to pay attention and make intelligent decisions based on the feedback we are given in the moment and not our preconceptions about what is going to happen.

We listen, which implies sensitivity-what is my body telling me to do, where do i need to contract, where do i need to relax, lean to the left, lean to the right……..

” You can ride your bike Max, you just don’t know you can and you don’t know what you don’t know”

4 year olds are way faster learners than adults because they believe that statement.When i say that to adults it comes off as esoteric and crazy. But it is only esoteric in its simplicity.

I got home from class this afternoon and the little dude was riding his bike without training wheels all over the street.

Its just like ridding a bike………….

Namaste,

Michele Theoret