Bringing yoga into my daily life (and no, I’m not posing on the subway)

Hello, have we met, my name is Yael and I am a control freak.

Part of my ongoing project that is myself has been to try and incorporate some of the things I learn in yoga beyond my physical being.

During a yoga class, I practice my physical asanas (poses) and sometimes I do a textbook triangle pose, and sometimes (often) I stumble over in tree pose — I call this “tree in a hurricane” pose. Either way, we’re taught to let it go. It’s just a moment of frustration and we shouldn’t give it the time of day. Sure, it wasn’t how we pictured it, but nothing rarely is. Try again, obviously, but don’t get caught up in the fact that you didn’t do it perfect before. Focus on what matters.

Sometimes, who am I kidding, often, this kind of frustration creeps into my every day life. For example, if I want to have brunch at 12 but my boyfriend is still sleeping at 11:30 I internally start to get furious at him, after all, he’s ruining my perfectly timed lazy Saturday!! I remind myself, do I need to eat at 12? Am I that hungry? Can I not just eat an apple and wait until 1? Even if our first choice restaurant has an hour wait at that time, isn’t there another excellent restaurant down the street that makes equally good brunch that we rarely go to?

Most of the time, upon consideration of these things I realize that the only reason that I’m getting frustrated or angry is because, damn it, I had already decided it was going to be like ABC and now it will be like XYZ. [There’s a great joke here about how all the flexibility has gone to my body and none to my personality I guess, or maybe it’s really a terrible joke and I should keep it to myself.]

The point is, when I get frustrated because something isn’t going exactly as I had planned or exactly as I had wanted, I’ve been trying to reign it in and ask myself, “So what?”. There are times when details are important, when people depend on you. Pay attention to the details then, but if they are inconsequential little detours, I’ve been learning to let it go.

If you suggest going to a movie at 8pm but your friend counters with 7pm, don’t dig your heels in. Your life won’t end if you have to eat a slightly earlier dinner. If someone has taken the last set of dumbells you wanted, why not use it as an excuse to use slightly lighter (or heavier!) weights for a change? If the people in the subway station are walking side by side and you’re going to miss your carefully timed transfer, it’s ok, there’s another subway coming in 5 minutes.

I emphasize learning here. I’ve by no means achieved this level of zen. But just like my handstand, it’s a work in progress that’s getting a little closer to decent every day.

Namaste (but really, get out of my way, you are walking too slowly).