Twenty one days before the spring equinox several of us set a goal to do the practice of the Mother Sequence or Five Poses of our choosing everyday. Our desire was to usher in spring by getting stronger in both our bodies and our minds during the final days of winter. But living in a world surrounded by instant gratification—think instant food, instant technology, instant money from the money machine—it is even more challenging to adhere to a schedule of slow and deliberate work. In society, there is seemingly no time to wait.
We must accept that to reach our desired resolve is a process. Like recovery from an injury, a loss, or a life changing event, it takes time to regain, reclaim, or recoup all that we either had or desire to have. Change simply takes time…it takes time for new patterns to take hold and old practices to be let go. If we can stop expecting instant relief and instant results, we can come to appreciate both the process and the fruition of our resolve.
Granted waiting for change to happen can be frustrating and anticipating completion of a well placed goal can be agonizing. But what we garner is more than just the change we receive from a stronger core, a longer held headstand, and a more stable standing pose. Hopefully, we discover that within ourselves are the tools we need to make the change we want and handle the change we did not anticipate. It mainly requires giving ourselves the time and space to access what is already contained within us.
Yes, many of us have attained our goal, met our resolution of completing the yoga challenge, but now we have the opportunity to resolve a larger quest—to slow down and take a more deliberate approach, both on and off the mat. We may discover that the resolve we desire has been with us all along.
Time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence—neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish—it is an imponderably valuable gift. ~Maya Angelou, from collection of stories Wouldn’t Take Nothing for my Journey Now