Metta: benevolence, loving kindness, goodwill
I follow a lot of yoga folks on social media. I love all of them, but bless their cotton socks, I don't look like very many of them. For one thing, I'm a little older. In some cases, a lot older. I have gray hair, extra padding on my hips, and laugh lines. At this moment in time, I am currently unable to place my foot behind my head, do the full splits, perform an elegant crow pose balance, or come up into full wheel pose.
So what? I'm still doing yoga. And you should be, too.
So what if you have to modify a side plank because your wrists hurt? So what if you hate forward bends and decide to use blocks for the whole practice? So what if everyone else is down dogging and up dogging like their very lives depend on it and you decide to return to child's pose again and again?
And while I'm at it, so what if you're not a stick shape or you're a stiff dude or your teenager crashed your car or you are recovering from an illness or battling depression or anxiety? So what if your yoga pants are all stretched out and have holes?
Yoga doesn't happen when you bend yourself into a shape someone else is modelling on Facebook. Yoga happens when you fold into yourself and decide, "Hey, I'm here right now and it's good enough."
When you tell yourself that, you begin to open. Maybe it's just a hairline crack. Maybe you bend an inch further down or breathe a tiny bit deeper or your shoulders fall away from your ears for the first time all day. THAT is a moment of yoga. Better, it's a moment of grace. May you be filled with loving kindness. May you be well. May you be peaceful and at ease. May you be happy.
