Relax

Saraswathi is helping me try to bind my arms in the full Marichyasana D pose, an asana I haven’t been able to get into for years and which, quite frankly, I’d given up ever imagining I might achieve again in this body.

She is counseling me to relax, which is completely counterintuitive since it seems like I’ve got to strain to my limit to fully twist into the posture.

There’s probably a metaphor here somewhere about the effective approach to challenges that seem beyond us; no doubt in some ways the only way we’ll succeed is to stop pushing so hard and allow our goal to come to us, meeting us part way as it were.

Of course, that’s easier said than done since it sure seems like more effort is the key; I suppose this is one of those paradoxes so evident in yoga and which seem remarkably trivial, obvious, and even misguided when applying the lesson to life.

What’s puzzling is how to balance the effort with the relaxing; some serious work is needed to get things going, but then, at some point, you’ve got to let go; it’s just not clear to me where that middle point is.

Mr. Upadhyaya said that all learning is unlearning; how very Socratic, and, I think, quite right. In order to get into Marichyasana D, I’ve got to let go of the idea that I can’t do it and replace that with the idea that I can. And in order to that, I have to relax my hold on that former notion, so as to allow the latter to take its place.

As I was leaving the studio this morning, Saraswathi smiled at me and said, “Tomorrow, you bind both sides in Marichasana D.” I’d like to believe her, but I’m not relaxed enough to share her confidence. We shall see, though, what happens, and one way or another, I’ll probably unlearn something completely unexpected