Rei has started walking! She and I were in Seville, Spain, last week for my sister’s wedding (which was amaaazing btw). Apparently that was the perfect time to start walking. This was amazing news for my back, but chasing her around the airport was a whole new level of chaos haha.
Timing aside, it has been so beautiful to witness her transition to walking. How many times have you tried learning something new and ended up frustrated, embarrassed or self-conscious in the process? I know it’s been countless times for me!
As adults we constantly let our egos get in the way. “I should be able to do this” can end up being a running theme in live if you’re not mindful. Whether you give up too soon, or persist while your inner perfectionist/critic throws a barrage of verbal abuse your way, learning something new can be so damn unfun!
Rei, on the other hand, started cruising (walking holding furniture) ages ago. She was perfectly content being at that stage for about 5 months, while she got very into stacking all the things all the time (IYKYK).
There was no frustration, no upsets or anger. She didn’t compare herself to her friends (who have all been walking for months) and just enjoyed the process.
We refer to yoga as a practice, and the same theme applies to many other spiritual traditions. I love the concept of ‘practice’, and it relates so much to everything we do.
In yoga, miracles don’t happen when you rock up onto your yoga mat every couple of months. The magic happens in the mundane; the showing up every day (or so), the monotony of consistency, moving through your practice whether you are happy or sad, adjusting how you practice for how you feel but consistently holding space for yourself.
In other words, you’ll never get deeper in your practice, create that life-changing mind/body connection, feel confident in your practice or nail that damn handstand if you don’t show up and practice consistently.
For Rei, she just walked around holding furniture or my hands all day every day, until apparently something clicked. She was ready. She’d figured it out. The magic had happened. It didn’t take a monumental seismic shift. All she needed was the consistency of practicing – and enjoying the ride.
