We can all relate to sayings like ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ or ‘if at first you don’t succeed try, try again’. There are many things in life that we try a few times before we get it right, and that we are scared to try in case we fail. However not succeeding at things often teaches us skills that we can then be successful at; so not all failures are failure! These failures may teach us what we don’t want, such as past relationships or jobs, or skills like vulnerability and flexibility, or just the power of commitment…to keep trying even when we don’t at first seem to succeed. Often we are making tiny steps towards success that we don’t appreciate until we achieve the bigger goal!
One of the reasons we teach balances in yoga is to teach us to calmly keep trying. Not to give up and think ‘we can’t balance’ but to realize that with practice, props and slowly strengthening muscles we can succeed at standing on one leg and feeling strong. I often wobble in transitions and need to remember to ground my feet, engage my deep postural muscles and feel stability run all the way to the crown of my head. Then I feel smooth and supple in my transitions from an unstable start! We also earn to engage with our inner self rather than looking around at others and trying to create the shapes they make. We learn instead to feel inside at what we need to connect. Connecting internally is just one of the lessons yoga classes teach us.
We may feel that we always fail. A close friend was recently saying how they always ‘fail at the final fence’, and hence feel discouraged and embarrassed by their perceived failure. However each of those projects that were not completed have taught life skills, communication skills and discipline that immediate success wouldn’t have done! Plus the ability to connect with others with an understanding of failure and a greater understand of the ups and downs in life. We always become better at what we practice, and just like yoga is a lifetime practice…so is life! The small achievements we make…like touching toes or reaching for a foot in a yoga class are symbolic of how we progress often without realizing it until we reach our goal! 
We also learn to be vulnerable…to be gentler with ourself. To practice ahimsa ‘non harming’ in our yoga practice teaches us that force and hardness won’t achieve success, where softness will melt away blockages and kindness will ease us into success. Especially when working with injuries in our yoga practice we learn to accept being vulnerable and this is often a great lesson to learn and that success isn’t always what we first thought it was, and that it is a very individual path we tread. To be able to kneel for some is an amazing success, or to take an arm overhead, whereas for others they don’t acknowledge it as success. So learn to find success in small as well as big things!
- When we accept being vulnerable we learn to accept the journey to success, as a journey to try to enjoy not resent. We recognize that good, bad or indifferent this is life, and this experience is an opportunity to grow and to become wiser. Challenge yourself to find a positive message in every situation, even if at first it feels like failure!
I have been through many of these lessons as I learn to live with a grumpy spine. One that I manage with my yoga practice so that I can do the work I love, teaching yoga. Yoga also allows me to live more comfortably in a body that is often grumpy or painful. It is also a situation I have used as an opportunity to learn from, about and with for the last few years. I am lucky to have been offered another operation later this summer to fuse my lower spine to prevent further injury. I am seeing this as a fantastic opportunity to learn more about my body and it’s ability to heal. I am obviously hopeful that this operation will be a complete success, but even if it is not then I will have learnt a lot from it. I am hopeful that the lessons I have learnt in recent years will support me in my next operation so I can see you back in yoga classes ASAP post op!