Oh my, my, my!!! I have another breakthrough today! If yesterday was terrific, I don’t know what to call today. Again, to have any appreciation for the breakthrough you have to know me. I have my whole life been amazed that I cannot touch my two elbows together in front of me. I have on occasion asked all sorts of different people to perform this simple task if only to find some company in my misery, if not a reasonable explanation for this. I’ve asked my 78-yr-old mother, my well-endowed older sister, my out-of shape husband. All of them can, with no effort whatsoever, bring their elbows together in front of their chests. (Go ahead you can try it. I know you want to. And chances are pretty good that you’re going to be able to do it too.) I am by no stretch of the imagination “well-endowed” in the chest area, so I’ve always assumed my inability to perform this task is due to tight shoulder muscles. I don’t really know. Consequently, my Eagle posture doesn’t look (nor has it ever) like anybody else’s in the room. Not guys, not girls, not newbies, not nobody. I simply cannot wrap my hands or my feet. Not to worry folks. Because of my life-long elbow shortcoming, I have been content to hang out in Eagle, wrapping what I can and just pressing the rest together. So imagine my amazement when I feel my fingers touching something and then find that what they are touching are each other. I look closely at my hands have I turned them some new way? How have I done this without even thinking about it? Will I ever replicate it? I don’t care. I am so silly with excitement that I can’t wrap my legs at all.
After class, I join Joy on a sofa for an apple and a blast of the air conditioning. She tells me that prior to class today she did a 3-mile walk/run with some of the other folks from the studio. I say, “Oh man, I couldn’t do that.” And before the words leave my mouth, I know I will now have to at least try it. This yoga is not just changing me physically it is changing me mentally. I have been told over and over, this yoga is not about the postures. It’s about trying and doing what you can and accepting ourselves for what we are and what we can do right now today. After all we are not our bodies. Our bodies are but a vehicle to carry our real selves around. So I know I must try the walk. Unfortunately, it starts at 7 AM. Doesn’t anyone want to sleep in even just a little? We’ll see what next Sunday brings.
