It is sometimes only when, to things don’t turn out the way I had planned or the good old spanner gets truly mixed up in the works that I appreciate my yoga practice. It is with hindsight that you realize the coping skills you have developed and how your inner attitude has changed. It was only a small thing in the great scheme of things, but it could have easily tipped me into not coping when I was already running on my reserves!
I had a downstairs toilet put in this summer and was just ready to get it plastered. Planning that when my new kitchen goes in everything would be ready to paint. This was also the week before my new studio opened for real with its full timetable. Hence I was busy with last minute preparations. Plus I had been away doing further therapy training so I was mentally and physically exhausted. So when the plasterer came around to tell me that it wasn’t structurally sound enough to plaster and needed a total overhaul it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
However I coped. I organised a joiner to come and remedy the situation. I asked for help off people who knew tradesmen. I coordinated it happening between classes. I didn’t panic about the extra money I was spending out that wasn’t budgeted for. All together it could be said I coped pretty well. Only afterward did I look back and realize that I was tired, hungry and already had a lot to deal with. A situation that may have tipped me over the edge into not coping. It could have been that ‘straw too many on an already overloaded camel’!
I usually recommend that people do not push themselves to their limit but to always keep something in reserve for those times when ‘the shit hits the fan’. This is because when it does, you will be more able to cope rationally and sensibly. I have learnt to be selfish about my rest, my recuperation time, eating regularly and maintaining my equilibrium. I have only myself to rely upon and hence I have to maintain myself to the best of my ability. However circumstances and poor timing had resulted in my being more tired than I have been in a long while. Just at the time when I needed to draw on my reserves.
However thanks to yoga I was able to find that inner strength. To pause and breathe. To know that however impossible something looks I am capable of more than I ever dreamed I would be. Yoga is like an extra bit in the bottom of your petrol tank…even when you know you are running out of petrol and into the red you suddenly realize you have more available in reserve!
It is not something I would recommend to do regularly..to run into the red. As with cars, it isn’t necessarily that good for us to run on the sludge in the bottom of the tank and we should maintain our tank adequately at all times. Or at least know there is a garage within a few miles…as in a lie in, a holiday or just some peaceful me time with no expectations and no worrying allowed.
For me though my yoga practice allowed my petrol to be more efficient and to take me further. Even though I knew I wasn’t able to refill my tank for a few more days I was still able to cope with an unexpected situation. Kinda like doing an emergency journey on a tank that says empty! Not a good idea but great when you are able to get away with it.
Another student has been having a lot of simultaneous family problems and has had a lot to deal with. Then she lost her much-loved family pet on top of everything else. She was also saying how her yoga has given her coping skills better than she has ever had before. That yoga helps us stay balanced and even happy in times that previously would have left us anxious stressed and not coping. That doing yoga somehow helps you to find or make the best of every situation.
We were discussing how yoga has changed us for the better. Given us coping skills that they should offer on the national curriculum!
So I would recommend not relying on running continually in the red. However those times when sufficient sleep, regular meals and plenty of social time with friends and family are not feasible there are alternatives. Instead to know that maintaining a regular yoga practice will give you more efficiency and more longevity in your coping skills, as well as your day-to-day life, than you could ever have imagined. So now I can look forward to a smoothly running studio and a fantastic new kitchen knowing I can cope serenely with any small glips that do arise on route.
