Adapting
“The only thing you can count on is change”
All things in this life are in constant evolution. There is a joke that if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute…life is like that in many ways. We are in a dynamic movement of our lives – nothing is truly fixed or stagnant. This concept is foundational in yoga.
Parinama is the Sanskrit term describing both the physical and philosophical state of continuing change. In the practice of yoga, all results and progress are a transformation of something that was already hidden and unseen deep inside. There is an implied belief that our optimal self is waiting to be realized through the effort of transformation.
Another foundational principle of yoga is that much of our suffering comes from holding onto the past (how we remember it used to be) and even the ideas we have of what the future should look like. The practice is to let go, become light. Part of this is to recognize that everything is changing all the time.
Our bodies are in a constant state of change. Every day it’s like we have a different body – we’ve sleep differently, eaten different things, the season is shifting, we are getting older, etc. Every day there is something new (not always something pleasant) to discover. In yoga the perspective is that we can (must?) adapt each practice to meet what our body needs at that moment.
This is one of the beautiful things about yoga practice to me. That no matter where you are on the spectrum of health-illness, strength-recovery, you can do a practice to invoke your best self. This means that we have to pay attention. Checking in with the body and mind at the start of the practice to see where we are and what we need. Recognizing what we have done before the practice and what we intend to do after the practice sets us up to be more present.
When we develop our understanding of where we are, with all of our past experiences that have brought us here, we can better take care of what we have in this moment. Yoga invites us to be in this moment of change. It invites us to be open to the flow of our breath and the rhythm of our bodies. Taking time to recognize that you are here – with all that you can do in this moment, different from the last.
Take a moment now an become aware of this breath. Notice how your body feels right now. Take a second to identify what you need to help you move through this moment of change, letting go of the need to hod onto what you used to be or where you thought you would be. The invitation is to be present.