Flexible

Occasionally when folks discover I teach yoga they state, “I’d love to try yoga, but I am not flexible.”  I assert that my gentle yoga classes do not require flexibility and can increase it over time.  Bridled with fear of how far away they perceive their toes to be, some seem to believe being flexible is a thing one is born with or not.  

 

Flexible (adjective) is defined at dictionary.com.
1.  capable of being bent, usually without breaking; easily bent
2.  susceptive of modification or adaptation; adaptable
3.  willing or disposed to yield; pliable

I get it, really.  I myself do not possess copious in-born elasticity.  Pictures of pretzel poses performed in second skin outfits can scare us away from our bodies. My history does not include personal fitness, sports or being a dancer or gymnast.  Yoga arrived first in spiritual devotion (bhakti yoga) and knowledge seeking (jnana yoga).  Still searching, I began to practice yoga postures in a class where, over time, I connected all the stuff in my head and my heart to my body.   As a dedicated couch potato it had never dawned on me that I could find joy - yes, joy - in physical training. 

 

What a revelation! Acknowledging all bodies, just like personalities, are different and a wide range of natural available movement exists from one person to another, as embodied beings (like all humans, we have a body) moving, stretching and strengthening increases wellbeing.  I lapped this up like a cat at a saucer of cream.

 

My hamstrings and heartstrings cooperate in tandem because I tend them, coax them kindly, and deliver to them challenge and rest.  All yoga poses may not be available to every body.  So what?  While we are embodied, we are NOT merely our bodies and certainly not the bodies of others.  Being flexible is much more than arching into a backbend.  Yet, let me be clear in my expression, increasing physical flexibility helps us learn about mental flexibility in our daily living.  How important is it to be capable of being bent, without breaking, as we control our reactions to life’s circumstances or other people’s actions? How beneficial is it to our relationships to be disposed to yield in shared spaces, not as pushovers but as strong, adaptable selves?  Over time, bending toward our toes or leaning our bodies deeply right and left gives us physical manifestations of effort that can create habits we take into everyday living.

 

Being flexible feels like something we want, it’s the “over time” part that gives pause. We deceive ourselves if we wait for flexibility to preclude effort in our bodies or our minds.  We become pliable through intention to be so and we rob ourselves if we reason being flexible physically or emotionally does not require practice.  

 

 

                                                A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind.
                                                                                                          - Lao Tzu

Be ready, be flexible, be poised to respond
when the time is right.
                                                         - Dr. Wayne W. Dyer