Couple nice additions to my Teacher vocabulary and metaphor tool kit from the Off The Mat – Into The World Intensive I just finished. One of them is ‘low-stakes’ and the other is ‘laboratory’, which I used to use all the time but just lost or forgot. I really found them informative, so let me riff a bit!
Laboratory – that’s what the asana practice is in my opinion; it’s not the end, it’s a means towards progression. It’s a space where we should experiment, and rather than thinking of that experimentation as work, perhaps we can say that we are at play in the laboratory of Self.
And, low-stakes? Why, yes indeed. There is plenty of space and resource for experimentation, the conditions are excellent for germination and observation and the stakes are low – no penalty for failure, yet great opportunity for growth and understanding and clarity in that failure, and our reaction to that event. All that is on the line is the Self, perhaps some jars to the ego, but an incredible opportunity to meet your truth, and begin to forge a relationship and engage in experimentation.
They say that Edison went through something like 6,000 different plant species trying to come up with the proper filament to create the light bulb. That’s staggering, the persistence, patience and process of using 6,000 failures to make one of the most impressive products of the entire century, and one that allowed for an enormous amount of innovation.
I’m not sure what the stakes were for Edison – to me that much tenacity in the pursuit of invention speaks much more to passion and play and discovery than it does to hard work and elbow grease.
So, is your practice a safe space for you? Answer that first – then, can you bring self-care into your practice? If you can, can there be a sense of play within the effort, so that rather than working it out, you’re playing it through? And, can you commit to failure being the natural product and continue to be informed there. I promise to hold space and create opportunities to fail and play. Can you promise to take advantage of the low-stakes lab and begin to reinvent yourself through the asana practice, owning the failures and the successes?
Let’s show up, and light that light, shine and refine – even a blind teacher knows when your sun is shining, so please come play in the practice, and find a love for your ability to commit to stepping into the fullness of yourself. It’s not what is happening in the asana practice; it’s how you are relating and reacting to what is happening!
Give thanks and praise.
Laboratory – that’s what the asana practice is in my opinion; it’s not the end, it’s a means towards progression. It’s a space where we should experiment, and rather than thinking of that experimentation as work, perhaps we can say that we are at play in the laboratory of Self.
And, low-stakes? Why, yes indeed. There is plenty of space and resource for experimentation, the conditions are excellent for germination and observation and the stakes are low – no penalty for failure, yet great opportunity for growth and understanding and clarity in that failure, and our reaction to that event. All that is on the line is the Self, perhaps some jars to the ego, but an incredible opportunity to meet your truth, and begin to forge a relationship and engage in experimentation.
They say that Edison went through something like 6,000 different plant species trying to come up with the proper filament to create the light bulb. That’s staggering, the persistence, patience and process of using 6,000 failures to make one of the most impressive products of the entire century, and one that allowed for an enormous amount of innovation.
I’m not sure what the stakes were for Edison – to me that much tenacity in the pursuit of invention speaks much more to passion and play and discovery than it does to hard work and elbow grease.
So, is your practice a safe space for you? Answer that first – then, can you bring self-care into your practice? If you can, can there be a sense of play within the effort, so that rather than working it out, you’re playing it through? And, can you commit to failure being the natural product and continue to be informed there. I promise to hold space and create opportunities to fail and play. Can you promise to take advantage of the low-stakes lab and begin to reinvent yourself through the asana practice, owning the failures and the successes?
Let’s show up, and light that light, shine and refine – even a blind teacher knows when your sun is shining, so please come play in the practice, and find a love for your ability to commit to stepping into the fullness of yourself. It’s not what is happening in the asana practice; it’s how you are relating and reacting to what is happening!
Give thanks and praise.
