Attachment

May 2024

The philosophy of yoga encourages us to let go, but what exactly are we letting go of?  Attachment, for one.  We humans are attached to a lot of things.  It isn’t necessarily the case that attachment is bad, but when it leads to suffering for ourselves or others, we need to take a closer look.  Usually attachment leads to suffering when we cannot tolerate change.  The only constant is change though, so our inability to adapt to the winds of change creates difficulty and unhappiness. 

How to we see this show up in class?  I know I’m not the only one who wishes my body still moved as effortlessly as it did when I was in my twenties, or has wistfully compared my poses to the Gumby practicing next to me.  We get attached to our favorite teacher and might skip class when there’s a sub.  As creatures of habit, we gravitate to the same place in the studio every time we show up.  These are all small things in the context of life, but it is often the case that the way we show up for the little challenges is the same way we show up for big life events.  This highlights one of the transformative aspects of yoga practice- it shows us where we get stuck, and offers us an opportunity to practice moving through difficulty on a smaller scale in a safe space.  In the same way that we build our practice with easier postures before attempting to kick up to handstand, we can practice adapting to little bumps in the road, and that will prepare us to handle the bigger mountains with greater ease and grace.  And, we never know when choosing a different path will open a door that turns out to be even better than our usual course of action.

So the next time you walk into the studio and someone is in your favorite spot, invite gratitude for an opportunity to practice before you even unroll your mat, choosing to be open to a new perspective, and maybe find a new friend, in a different part of the room.  When you see a substitute teacher scheduled for your usual class, instead of skipping practice, get excited about the possibility of learning something new.  If the instructor asks you to use a block when you think you don’t need it, instead of viewing the prop as a crutch below your level, notice how your experience of the pose changes with a block.  Try a different class that you consider outside your comfort zone.  Instead of wishing you could still move the way you did in your youth, be grateful for all that your body can do now!  Build the muscle of adaptability and see how it changes your ability to show up for life’s big hurdles.