Photo by Gabriela Tamara Cycman on Unsplash
It may perhaps be a bit of a cheesy and obvious metaphor, but I often refer to certain yoga poses as caterpillar poses… we take time to do the work, and to unfurl into them. Our lives, and our yoga practice are not much different.
Did you know that a caterpillar lives for around 10-14 days before it begins to create its cocoon. It will stay in the cocoon for up to 21 days before its “death” as a caterpillar and rebirth to emerge as a beautiful flying butterfly or moth, which may live for up to a year.
That means that in relation to its lifespan, when it goes into a chrysalis it essentially takes longer to undergo its transformation than it had been alive before - essentially, what must feel like forever, and then when it emerges into its fullest and highest potential, it lives for 10 times longer than it existed before.
It takes time and patience and work to undergo transformation. When we learn a new skill, we don’t expect to be an expert after our first or second try. We take time to learn, to study, to gain knowledge and to try time and time again, learning from our mistakes. Our paths in education, or our professional careers take time, and we learn more when we approach things with humility and open-heartedness as well as an open mind. Exactly the same applies to our yoga practice, and it’s a reminder for our lives.
Observing children as they grow up, reminds us that while its a lofty ideal that we should always set aside our sense of pride and ego when we come to learn, the fact is that we need to acknowledge that it is a natural response to become frustrated with ourselves for not knowing something.
We also learn best when we approach things playfully, with a willingness to explore, make mistakes and just basically see what happens! Most children do this naturally because when they are really young, they don’t think about the future, or about consequences. They just dive in. As we grow older, we bring all sorts of what ifs and self-limiting beliefs into whether we can do something or not, and what the consequences might be if we try something that is potentially scary or out of our comfort zone.
When we become frustrated when learning something new, as I try to remind my own kids, we create even greater blocks that prevent us in advancing in what we are trying to achieve. The mind becomes a fog, clouded with stress hormones that our frustration elicits and clear thinking is inhibited. The muscles of the body tense up, as body as well as mind rebel against an image we have of ourselves being able to easily conquer something.
This is the point I actually love - because it can be a true turning point. Fear and frustration are SO natural! I would imagine that once inside it’s chrysalis, the caterpillar might also feel fear, anger, frustration that what it is undergoing is painful and long. Or perhaps it just accepts its fate, and moves through what must be a painful transformation with acceptance. For us humans, given that we live so much in our heads, acknowledging our frustration is an important first step. It’s like opening the cupboard and peering into the shadowy depths, and taking a deep breath when we know we are ready to tackle it, or coming back when we are. We need to acknowledge fear and frustration, and not allow them to lead us. From this point on, if we can breathe through the process, we can start down the path of transformation, the path of unfurling into our highest potential.
This isn’t easy. It isn’t quick. BUT - the effects, if we are ready to dive in, if we are ready to go through the tricky bit and the discomfort, those trials and tribulations lead to being an absolutely glorious being. Ready to do the work, ready to grow, to fulfil truest potential!