that elusive "thing"...

i don't believe that there is anything better in this world to witness than someone attempting the thing they "can't do". i spent nine hours over the past three fridays doing exactly that, during workshops focusing on inversions, vinyasas, and arm balances...pretty intimidating and demanding stuff. i watched the students confront fear...physical, mental, emotional fear...and come out triumphant. by no means does that mean that every student attained every posture. what i mean by triumphant is that each person connected something of their body to something of their mind, whether it was just a glimmer of realization that bones do stack, merely a seed of understanding of the shape and direction of a vinyasa, or an astonished "ohmygodijustdidit!!!".

we turned our worlds upside-down, rode on our breaths, and held the earth under the palms of our hands. and we met many forms of fear:  fear of failure, fear of how others percieve us, fear of physical pain, fear of the unknown, even the fear of success itself...of the next step, of letting go of just a little bit more of that ego that works so diligently to protect us from our true selves.

that thing we "can't do"...what is it that makes it so elusive? body...or mind? craving...or contentment? limitation...or expectation? when we make a conscious choice to reframe our existence, to find freedom within our circumstances, the fences begin to fall away, the box begins to expand, the sky no longer becomes something to reach for. instead, we find ourselves in an open field of possibility, without rules, with the ability to soar, fearless...