Rethinking Yoga: My Life On & Off the Mat
True story: My first job in Washington, D.C. was teaching yoga at The World Bank.
This might come as a surprise to some who know me. After all, I’m not exactly the chilled-out, enlightened-zen-guru-type. In fact, I’m far from it. Seriously, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve been called an “energizer bunny”...
I said this might come as a surprise to some because those who know me well, know how deep and devoted my yoga practice is: so what gives?
For over a decade I didn’t really talk about my yoga practice because I was worried about what people might think of me. Frankly, I felt like a fraud: I’ve been at this thing for 15+ years and I’m still too hard on myself, too easily stressed, and too much of a perfectionist …what will people think if they know?!
Here’s what I realized:
First of all, nobody cares. Literally nobody.
Secondly, even if they did, who cares what other people think? (A question I can genuinely ask— and mean it when I say it—for the first time in my entire life)
Thirdly, and most importantly, there’s nothing “fraudulent” about this. Quite the opposite: when it comes to things like being hard on myself — OH MY GOD — I shudder to think what my life would be like without yoga and what it has done for me.
Last month I celebrated 11 years as a 200-hour trained yoga instructor. While I don’t teach publicly anymore (for now), as I marked this anniversary of completing my yoga teacher training I was reflecting on how this practice has changed my life. Here are a few things I’ve learned about enriching my life off the mat, from my time spent on it:
Transitions are everything. Last year in a Covid class, my long-time teacher, Eric Schwarz reminded us, “The mark of a truly advanced practitioner is a yogi who moves through their transitions [between poses], not the postures themselves, with grace and intentionality.” Embracing the transitions isn’t just the telltale sign of an advanced yoga practice. It’s the cornerstone of a happy and fulfilled life where we enjoy our days instead of racing through them (something that has always been my personal kryptonite). Carving out the small transition moments inside each day and creating small rituals to transition from things like mom-duty to work (e.g. listen to a great song and refill my cup of coffee) has been a game changer. I know it works because the days I blow past them (e.g. sprinting from mom-duty to my inbox or a Zoom), just tend to stink!
Mat as a mirror. I often speak to people who “aren’t into yoga” because they tried it and it “just wasn’t that relaxing.” I’ve learned my yoga mat is a mirror: a quiet place of truth and sometimes that truth is not pretty. How I show up on my mat (too often rushed and frazzled because I needed to answer one more email before the class started) is usually the mirror for how I’m showing up for the rest of my life. Am I actually breathing? Balancing? Paying attention? It’s not about instant relaxation. It’s about creating the space for taking an inventory and getting aware; so we can stop operating on autopilot and making conscious choices instead. Of course, the more I take time to get aware, to breathe, balance, and pay attention, the more I feel more relaxed--both on the mat and off--and that’s the real power of the mat as a mirror.
The truth about going upside down. Often people think going upside down in yoga is “fancy” or “expert.” What I’ve learned in many years of headstands and handstands is that the real joy of going upside down is simply the change of perspective. It’s seriously that simple: everything just looks different when you’re upside down. The ability to change our perspective is a gift and we thrive when we practice it (handstands not required)--especially at moments when we feel “stuck” in a situation or with a decision (Here’s another article I wrote about getting “unstuck”--no inversions required).
Rest as reward, not weakness. In the early years of my practice, savasana (the final resting pose) felt like a giant waste of time…hello, I came here to work out, not nap! A few years in, a teacher said something that made a lightbulb go off in my head; “Savasana is the peak pose in every class. We build heat and work up this final pose to let our body absorb the benefits of this practice.” Resting isn’t about laziness, it’s about letting all the awesome stuff we do sink in so we can enjoy it… and go out and do more awesome stuff.
If you’ve never tried yoga, or it’s been a while, or you swore up and down you’re just “not that into it,” I encourage you to give it a whirl and let me know what you think. I challenge you to just get curious without the expectation of some singularly profound zen moment or a sweaty-fat-burning-calorie-busting workout experience.
If you do give it a whirl, will you shoot me an email and let me know what you think?
For those who enjoy yoga (as well as wine tasting, community with other women, and meaningful goal setting), I invite you to join me on September 10th at my Realign & Recharge Women’s Leadership Retreat. Learn more here.
Randi Braun is a certified executive coach, consultant, speaker, and the CEO of Something Major. Get in touch with Randi via email or social (below). Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.