granted, it may take me MORE time and MORE effort for one thing than it takes for another . . . and maybe i won't have the desire to put in all the effort nor have all the time it will take, but at least then we are not talking about impossibilities - we're talking choices.

this is from the perspective of my yoga mat -  but not limited to my yoga mat.

now, i hear people say all the time, "oh, i'll never be able to do ((fill in the blank)) - my body is just not made that way."  my legs are too long, my arms are too short, my spine is this, my hips are that, not to mention, i have an amazingly large gifted derriere. 

recently, a fellow teacher confided to me over tea one afternoon that while working on a posture - a pretty stinkin' hard, second series posture, a fellow teacher tried to soothe her struggle by letting her know "her limbs were just too long and that she would simply NEVER get it."

that's right.  the teacher uttered the word n-n-n-never.  luckily, my friend is far too bullheaded to believe this. 

but my question is, when did we start doing that?  when did we start telling ourselves and others we/they couldn't?

if a toddler sees a kid run past, the toddler gets excited and thinks - i'll do that.

if a kid sees an older sibling playing on the soccer field, the younger one thinks - i'll do that.

my friend sees richard freeman in karandavasana, and she thinks - i'll do that.

i guess it begins around the age of school, that's when we slap arbitrary time and ability limits on kids, teaching them there are some things they just can't do (within our meaningless time limits).  but i think that's wrong.  really, really wrong.  and yet, each of us left school with a pretty secured belief system around what we believed was possible and what we believed was not.  for ourselves and in our world.**


the yoga mat is a place to challenge this thinking.  in ashtanga yoga particularly, there is a progression - yet there is no specified time limit to learn something.  and with steady practice and time - i have surprised myself over and over again with what i am able to learn and do if approached with an open mind to the possibilities. 

and with your own practice, i suspect you have too, yes?

i now carry this off the mat.  though there may be a multiple of things i may never choose to do, like jumping out of an airplane, climbing to even the first base camp of everest, or becoming a physicist - i don't actually think i can't.  i just don't want to pour the effort and time it would take to get me there.

but how liberating it is to know - i could if i wanted to.  and you can if you want to.  one day, i fully believe i will pike effortlessly into a handstand and my book, that's not written yet, can one day stock shelves.  despite her long, enviable limbs - my friend can and will find her karandavasana.  my daughter can be the next annie leibovitz and my son will pass eighth grade science.  (billy, if you're reading - note i said time + effort)

what is it you tell yourself you can't?

and now, remind me - why is that again? 

**post edit note:  i do recognize real and debilitating handicaps as very different (and no, i don't believe a gifted behind to be a real handicap) and do not confuse these to be in ANY way, choices.  though even in these situations, i am not as quick as many to discount anyone's ability and don't think anyone else should either.


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