Flipping the script
The hill looks high until I climb it
I awe myself whenever I climb this certain hill. The incline looks daunting, if I dwell on that; however, if I focus on the whole forest, on stepping my one foot in front my other, on staying in the moment, it's not that bad. I go into the forest for lessons. She is my script flipper. I always find metaphors for life, and the macrocosm/microcosm dynamic feels like medicine for all that challenges me.
Flipping scripts facilitates more clarity, peace and balance, if we’ve strayed from our center, from our power. I remember Mr. Desikachar mentioning creative ways to practice this essential Yogic tool, pratipakṣa bhāvana, ways that take us face to face with Yoga’s practicality. When we’re “in it,” it’s hard to see another perspective aside from our mechanical one. Our behaviors are deeply ingrained and inform our perception and how we interpret and react to stimuli in our environments. Sometimes, as he suggested, see a film. Go on a walk. Find what gives us a break from our to-do lists, from our ruminating thoughts, from our mental load, from our concerns, from our work - and make that a habit. Suddenly, you will have a flash of insight, an innovative idea, a creative burst that guides you in the next best direction for your development.
What Yogic practices best support our perspective shift if we can’t take that break? Breathing, Mantra and Meditation, the tools Yoga Foundation teaches in our weekly Breathing and Meditation classes. When the mind and the body want to follow the path of least resistance, these tools nudge us, step-by-step, to stay in citta vrtti nirodha. To cultivate the kind of attention we need to be able to self soothe in life. Although pratipakṣa bhāvana is a practice we do in life, without the formal Yoga training, it’s inaccessible to us. With it, the moments of awareness we need to flip that script enter our grasp, and we save ourselves from our old ways and open the doors to showing up brighter, more content, assured and powerful.