Surprise

Do you ever notice that sometimes when you step onto your Yoga mat your priorities, what you want or need, are suddenly not the same as they were, not what you'd expected?

One day, there it is: a shift.

You might be surprised by this.

Maybe for quite some time you had been focused on building strength. For months....focused on strong legs, shoulders, a core. Then, one day you are in Child’s Pose and it occurs to you that what you need far more than strength - is to nurture your spirit. You don’t want to move. You are cued to plant your hands, lift your tailbone, curl your toes under and press back into downward facing dog, but you don’t. You stay wrapped in Child’s Pose.

Or - maybe one day you are attempting to move into a standing split and you become accutely aware of your need for flexibility. You didn’t see that coming. You didn't notice the lacking before. When did that happen? When once you would have taken Tree Pose over Standing Split, this time you gladly turn your hip toward the earth, lower your head and lift the raised foot even higher.

What you want or need on your Yoga mat is suddenly not the same anymore.

This is such a welcome, beautiful, and surprising change.

It is like this in relationships too, with friends, with family, with lovers.

One day, there it is: a shift.

Only, unlike on your Yoga mat, it is not often welcome or beautiful.

It is only surprising.

Jeannette Maloy

joY Yoga