Flexibility

Reading from Wednesday, September 30, 2015 yoga class

From the book "Yoga for your spiritual muscles" by Rachel Schaeffer

I picked up the above book during my week at the ashram in Pennsylvania.  I need another yoga book, like I need a hole in the head.  :)   BUT....   :)

The book is divided into 12 spiritual muscles chapters.  The following is from the spiritual muscle of flexibility.

"Imagine your body and mind as a magical boat that travels to exotic lands.  To fully explore these unusual places, meet interesting people, and gain new perspectives, you need to drop anchor for awhile.  However, if you leave the anchor down permanently in some safe harbor, you close yourself off to other experiences.  You become stuck, able to see things only from a single vantage point.  While being anchored to one spot provides a sense of safety, it can also be constricting and isolating.  Developing the Spiritual Muscle of Flexibility allows you to weigh anchor and explore alternative ways of seeing and being.  To be flexible is to be free.

Rigidly clinging to outworn beliefs, desires, and especially fears can contribute to dis-ease.  When we are inflexible, it is as though we are in a fight with our own bodies and minds.  What if a tree were as inflexible as our minds can be?  Any storm that passed through could cause the tree to snap--even tear it from the earth by its roots.  Luckily, trees sway and adapt to most weather conditions.  You can train your mind to do the same thing."