During a recent yoga class, the teacher asked us to leave the comfort of our mats to form a circle in the center of the studio.
In the circle, we flowed through a series of poses, ending with tree pose. Tree pose is a balance pose: standing on one leg, with your other leg bent, your foot pressing to the inside of the calf or thight of the standing leg.
Once in tree pose, we joined hands, interlacing our fingers with our new friends on either side.
Then the teacher invited us to close our eyes.
Balancing poses are enough of a challenge with eyes open. When you stand on one foot, you can feel every little muscle working to keep you from falling over.
With your eyes closed, you realize that it’s not just your feet at work. Balancing with eyes closed is difficult because we rely on our vision to aid our proprioceptive system, which tells our body where it is in space.
Most people will fall over pretty quickly if they try to close their eyes in a balance pose.
Standing in the circle, balancing on one leg, holding hands with the women next to me, I could feel the little muscles in my feet and ankles working to keep me up. And I could feel the energy of the other feet in the circle doing the same.
Each of us was wobbling, but the strength of the circle held us. Nobody fell.
This is Life
As I stood there taking it in, it occurred to me that this is a perfect metaphor for life.
Sometimes it feels like you are out of the comfort zone of your mat space, balancing on one leg, in the dark. You’re teetering, trying to get your footing.
You may not realize it, but everyone else feels that way too. Typically you wouldn’t seek support from someone who is wobbling.
And this is where the magic happens: if we all join hands, we grow stronger and taller together. The circle supports us.
The key here is trust: are you willing to trust the power of the collective?
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