What happens on (and off) the yoga mat...

I did something in a yoga class last week that I have never done before. I was holding revolved side angle pose {parivrtta parsvakonasana} minding my own yoga business, when BOOM. I fell out of the pose.

Oh, but I didn't just fall out of the pose - I kind of rolled and tumbled out of it. And when I finally stopped tumbling and rolling, I was sitting and facing the back of the room and completely off of my yoga mat. For the love of Pete.

At first I thought I'd hurt my knee but I shook it off and got back into the pose just as my teacher was leading the class to come out of it. As he led us through alignment for the other side, I realized that the only thing I'd really hurt was my pride/ego, and even that wasn't all that bad.

Oh sure, the words "how embarrassing" crossed my mind, but as luck and joy and experience would have it, I shook it off and chalked it up to a lesson learned. But I'll tell you, the lesson to let it go was greater than the lesson of falling out of the pose.

For those of you who may have never tried yoga for fear of falling, let me assure you that this really isn't the norm. I lost focus in class and for whatever reason, the pose was not meant for me that night. It's common to fall out of a yoga poses - I do it all the time with tree pose {vrksasana}. That's why it's called a yoga practice. :o) So please don't let my tale of tumbling keep you from giving yoga a try! {xo}









It just so happened that the teacher leading the class is one who encourages an attitude of self-respect and self-kindness. What happened to me could have happened to anyone. A few years ago I might have even shed tears out of embarrassment. I might have felt completely humiliated and ashamed and reluctant to ever go back to that class again.

Was I embarrassed? Sure. And am I still a little humbled, writing this blog post days after the event took place? Uh-huh. But there's a different frame of mind - thanks to yoga. Falling out of a yoga pose and off of my mat does not define me or my yoga practice, but the thoughts I choose to go with it do.

And isn't that the way it goes outside of yoga class as well? Those times when we trip up and do something human like stumbling or tumbling or standing out in the crowd? The way we choose to think about it later defines the event on a much deeper level than the actual event itself.

Truth be told, I'm actually kind of glad this happened. Falling off my mat just gives me one more little piece of experience to add to my yoga bag. Perhaps it will help me to be more empathetic to my own students struggling to hold a pose. Perhaps I will adopt my teacher's advice and pass that on to my students as well.

"Are you being kind to yourself?" my teacher will ask during class.

"Are you being self-respecting? Because if you aren't, you're not practicing yoga."

♥