Would I do something so underhanded just to drive blog traffic?
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But this post is not about the NFL franchise that is most painful to support.
Nor is it about 80s punk-metal goodness.
This post is about my new favorite yoga pose.
Because I've got a fairly high center of gravity and long, spindly legs, yoga poses where I balance on one leg are relatively challenging for me. The challenge is double for eagle pose, which I fondly remember Rodney Yee once calling "wobbly."
You don't have to have ever done yoga to appreciate how funky Eagle Pose is. Just look at that picture. Legs and arms wrapped around one another and jutting out at all angles, and one is supposed to stay upright on one leg? One is supposed to hold that for 30 seconds? Especially when yoga teachers love to save it for the last 20 minutes of class, when my poor, spindly legs are already dying?
What I remembered during today's practice at The World's Greatest Yoga Studio is that when I adopt the attitude I just described, my Eagle Pose is doomed before I move a single muscle.
And that Eagle Pose is a metaphor for life.
Think about it. What makes Eagle Pose, or any pose, difficult? Gravity? The ground? Your mat? Friend, those things are constant. Rain or shine, good practice or bad, gravity will always pull down and your mat will always be the same color and texture. Isn't that a little bit like the world? When I go outside, the world will still be the same as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow. Jerks will still be jerks. Traffic will still be traffic.
The real difficulties in both Eagle Pose and life are mostly a function of things we do to ourselves. In Eagle Pose, I always want to make sure that my arms and legs are as twisted as they can be, that I'm as low to the floor as possible, and that my back is straight as can be. In short, I try to do too much. And, inevitably, when I'm trying to be Super Yogi, Eagle Pose kicks my ass.
Life? Dawg, I have a job and am going to have a job well into the future. I've got money enough to pay the rent, eat, drink, and fly somewhere whenever I please. So why am I so worried about job security? Why do I get myself twisted in knots trying to make sure I'm doing everything perfectly? Why do I have to find the exact right step for my future, and why do I have to find it now?
I don't.
I can relax into the pose and into life.
When I am not trying to be Super Yogi, Eagle Pose is bliss. When I relax, I'm not sure that there's a pose that feels better for my hips and my shoulders.
In life, I will do the best I can do today and trust that all is coming. That means I work hard each and every day to maximize my chances at the best possible future, but I recognize I can't wave a magic wand and make all of my problems disappear today. I will do the best I can today, in this moment, and that is always enough.
And if you made it this far, you've earned your punk-metal awesomeness.
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