Effort and Ease

So this morning I was running late for my yoga class at college. I was briskly walking across campus when my ankle rolled and I hit the ground. Thankfully there as another student, this guy, who quickly came over to help me. I suppressed my inner dialog of pure embarrassment, and tried to replace it with gratitude for his willingness to help me. I was basically okay, I scraped and banged up my left knee pretty bad. But I brushed the dirt off my yoga pants, thanked the good Samaritan and continued to class. Thinking all the time, "How am I supposed to do yoga with this knee?" But I had to go because I had used up all my absences for the semester. If I missed just one more class, my grade would drop from an A to a B.

As I limped into class I saw that we had a substitute. I was immediately uncomfortable. As unrestrained as I may seem at times, I am actually very shy. I get very attached to the people that I am familiar with. But again, I tried to check my inner negative dialog and see it as an opportunity to gain a different perspective in yoga. Her mannerisms came across as much more formal than my usual yoga instructor, again putting me on my guard. As we began the practice she kept mentioning find the balance between effort and ease. And then a thought happened upon me like a gradual sunrise. This needs to be my new mantra. This needs to replace: "I need to be better than everyone, or else I am a total looser." It seems obvious, but I didn't know what to replace my current inner dialog with. I knew it needed to be replaced or else I would find it had made its way back into the crevasses of my mind.

I am not unfamiliar with this concept. My father was basically my spiritual guide growing up and he was a huge upholder of yin and yang. I can remember him discussing the importance of balance with me. I don't think I ever really understood.

As I embraced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in my young adult years, years after my dad had passed away from cancer, balance was lost on me even more. The problem with Christianity is followers often interpret: be the best that you can and work hard, with you are never good enough. The harder you work, the closer you get to perfection. But that perception is wrong. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not intended to be there as a means to make people feel guilty, it is a means of comfort. A means to better understanding how to find the balance between effort and ease. A scriptural example of that is the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:39-42. We find that Mary understood what the gospel is all about, while Martha, working like a busy bee, trying to insure everything was taken care of missed the point a bit. I'm usually a Martha. I need to find my way to becoming a Mary.


Namaste

Interesting Link bellow
Philosophy and Theory of Yin and Yang