A student showed up to yoga class with complaints about her wrist hurting. To protect her wrist, she was making fists with her hands to avoid placing her hand down on the mat.
A similar scenario plays out among other students all the time. When we have an injury or pain in any area of the body, we tend to stay away from putting more stress on that body part.
The instinct to avoid the pain is human nature: we are wired to avoid pain and seek pleasure.
Yet avoiding the source of pain rarely resolves it. Although we think we are protecting that body part from further injury, we are really making the whole system more prone to injury.
When she makes her hands into fists in her downward dog, she puts more stress on her shoulders — that’s not a result she wants.
To make the system more resilient, we can lean into the discomfort.
When you feel sensation in your body, get curious.
- Is it true “pain” or just “discomfort”?
- Is it with you all the time?
- When does it show up?
- When does it go away?
- What makes it better?
- What makes it worse?
When we get to know our aches and discomforts, they stop exerting so much control over us.
The same principle applies off the mat. Maybe you have a colleague who irritate you. Instead of stewing in the feeling of annoyance — a painful emotion — you can get curios about why this person irritates you so much.
When you’re contemplating and avoiding a painful task, you can get curious about what the pain is really about.
- What’s really at stake?
Avoiding the pain or discomfort only results in compensation issues, breaking down other parts of the system.
To create resiliency in your system, it’s important to lean into the discomfort.
Love it? Hate it? What do you think? Don't hold back...