“Do everything with a mind that has let go” ~ John Chan
The previous quote comes from the book Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates. In this part of the book, Rolf discusses how new students come to a yoga class and they “wrestle” with their pride to get the postures right and they even begin to place judgments on their efforts. To sum it up, they are hard on themselves.
When an experience is humbling and challenging, we judge ourselves-our mind does not let go. It tapes the mistakes we make, it re-plays the mistakes we have made, and this can be paralyzing. When the mind cannot let go, we cannot be present. Worrying and regretting past mistakes will not change history-what’s done is done. And most definitely, worrying about what might happen will not stop what is going to happen from occurring. Worry and fear are just two ways in which our mind cannot let go. The very first time I stepped into a real yoga studio I was terrified. Scared of what people might think of me, scared I’d fall on my face, and scared I would not be able to make it through the practice. I was afraid, but I survived. I survived and fell in love. I fell in love with a practice that rescued me from insecurities, body image issues, and weakness. Not only did I survive my first yoga class, I become a yoga teacher. What if I would have allowed my fears to keep me from taking that first yoga class? So many opportunities, relationships, and friendships I would have unknowingly robbed myself of.
Fear keeps us from pursuing our dreams. Fear tells us things that are not true...it lies to us and keeps us stagnant. Fear will not allow our minds to simply let go and it does not serve us in any way. Think about it...when we are afraid the following reactions occur: our heart rate goes up, adrenaline kicks in, and we start to experience a “fight or flight” response. It is so much easier to avoid these feelings, to become reactive, and to allow these feelings to mess with the mind! But if we learn to sit with the uncomfortable feelings, to face the discomfort no matter how formidable, we will watch it subside. Our minds are just that powerful. One of the things that makes us “regular people” different from the greatest athletes in the world is that we have made letting go an option, and they have made letting go an instinct. Rolf Gates says this about letting go, “So I encourage you: get into that canoe and ride with the river. Commit and don’t look back, before our bodies can open, they must first let go; the clenched and guarded muscles must relax. But the mind must let go first.”
