Yoga teachers often speak to lessons students may learn on the mat and how they can then apply those lessons to life off the mat. In a class this past weekend, I hit on one of those lessons that resounded deeply with the class and with me. It’s a nugget of knowledge that I’ve already thought about applying in my own life.
The class was built around party poses (yes, I just said that) such as bakasana, koundinyasana, and eka pada bakasana with the foundation of each of these postures coming from “chaturanga arms are everything.” As the class was playing with bakasana (crow), I pointed out the difference between looking ahead and looking back. When we look back in crow, it increases the hunch in our back and the likelihood of a somersault out. When the head is looking forward, it reduces the opportunity to roll while making the pose less scary.
And that’s where the lesson sprouted. We all have a past that we carry with us. When we look back, that past holds us back and may even prevent us from finding or creating our own opportunity for something really awesome. By looking forward, the future is less scary and in focus.
I have some really big things coming up in the very near future – Forrest Yoga training being among them – and if I stayed still, focusing on the past that brought me this far, I would become stuck, stagnant, and blind to my future.
So I’m looking forward with a smile, a laugh, and open eyes as I leapfrog off my past and into my life. You should too.