I believe the answer lies in awareness, and there is nothing like yoga to help you become more aware. In yoga you become aware of how your body (and your mind) responds to poses, challenges, change, etc. What I notice about my mind and body in yoga, I also start to notice in my everyday life. The way we are on our mats is often the same way we are in life.
While at Off The Mat in July, I became very present to the fact that I allow myself to get easily distracted in class. It's one of my "weaknesses." When a pose gets challenging or I feel a burn in my hips, I distract myself by thinking about what I will have for dinner, planning my night, or moving to a more advanced pose like an arm balance so I don't have to sit in the discomfort of the challenge. It's allowing me to check out and in doing so, I inhibit growth in my practice.
I have noticed this in my life as well. One of my other weaknesses is that I can be a perfectionist (for real; this is not just a good answer to the infamous job interview question: What is your greatest weakness?) By being a "perfectionist" I allow myself to be distracted by little things rather than dealing with the big issue. For example, I have wanted to create my own web site for my yoga teaching and writing for a long time. When I left my full-time corporate job, I thought, "Great, now I can get my site done!" Two months later I hadn't even started. In my perfectionist, distracted brain, I saw the project of building my web site, and it seemed BIG. I would have to pick a domain name, research which web building site is the best, have graphics or my logo made, know all the services I wanted to provide, have client testimonials, make business cards, etc. etc. etc. Because the project felt so overwhelming, and I wanted it to be perfect, I never really started it. I kept waiting for that perfect time.
I was talking to my husband Sunday night about feeling a bit discouraged that I felt I hadn't come very far in two months of my new "job." And somehow through our discussion I remembered what we talked about in Off The Mat about baby steps: Envision your goal, your dream, then work backwards a million baby steps and start with number one. Then go to number two, then three... and so on.
So right then and there I embraced the present moment and started with number one. I researched web site publishing sites, and instead of spending an entire day reading each of the hundreds of web site creators around, I chose three that were recommended by friends, did enough research to be able to trust my gut, and made a decision on which one to use. I told myself this is my very first web site, it doesn't need to be perfect, but I DO need to start somewhere. Then I bought a domain name, just like that, from an idea that has been formulated in my head for some time now. (I bought www.saramuellernow.com in case you are curious.) And I started to put my web site together. I didn't move from my computer for five hours and felt sooooo good during the work. So motivated and inspired to finally be moving forward! The site is by no means great or even close to being done, but it's a start. I found my first baby step, and I will keep on walking.
This was a good lesson for me. It highlighted a weakness of mine, and through awareness, I can continue to check in with my work and see where my weakness might be holding me back. Better yet, I can enlist the support of a friend or colleague to call me out when I think too big picture and hold back on taking the first small steps.
"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." - Mother Teresa
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