Finding Strength in Child's Pose

I was in quite possibly the most intense yoga class I have ever taken.  It was an arm balancing class and I don’t have much experience with those types of poses in the first place.  At one point in the class, the teacher gave us the option to stay in downward dog or take child’s pose.  When she noticed that most of the class had stayed in downward facing dog she said, “And for those of you not taking child’s pose right now because you want to look or feel strong, remember that child’s pose is a strong pose.” 

This can be explored in two different directions- not taking child’s pose in order to look strong, and not taking child’s pose in order to feel strong.  They aren’t two mutually exclusive directions, as the line between the two is admittedly blurry.  The part about trying to look strong resonated a little.  When I’m in a yoga class I tell myself I’m practicing for no one but myself but I inevitably slip into trying to take the hardest variations; it’s mostly to challenge myself and feel strong but sometimes it’s a little bit motivated by trying not to look like the weak one in the class.  We all know that feeling.  However, the direction of trying to feel strong really hit the nail on the head for me.  I was still in downward dog because taking child’s pose felt like I would be giving up, unable to hold my pose any longer, and sinking to the floor.  When she pointed out that child’s pose is a strong pose, I started to see it that way for the first time.  I started to bring strength into my practice of child’s pose, feeling the stretch in my back and the strength in my arms.  Since I returned to practicing yoga (more on that soon) I also have incorporated it into my stretching after my daily workouts at the gym. 

Coming out of an invigoratingly strong child’s pose at the gym a couple days later I began to think about how to apply lessons learned on the mat to life off the mat, a principle that a past yoga teacher in Miami had always emphasized.  I realized that you have to find your own source of strength from somewhere inside you, your source of strength to restore your own balance.  Because you can’t be breaking down all the time.  I can’t be breaking down all the time.  I have things to do, goals to accomplish, and work to do to get me there in every aspect of my life.  So when I start to spiral into a bad mood that is going to ruin the rest of my day, it is my responsibility to catch myself and stop it.  It is no one else’s job to do that.  It is mine and mine alone to be attentive to and aware of my physical and mental state.  If I start to spiral, I need to identify the root cause immediately and address it.  If I can’t identify it, then I must proceed straight to catching myself before I spiral to the point of no return.  I need to find my internal strength and restore my own balance. 

For me, my internal mental strength comes from physiological strength.  If I take a minute in child’s pose, or hero’s pose, or just do a couple of vinyasas and completely focus on the pose or the flow, I can restore my balance all by myself.  Not in a place that I can drop to the floor and do yoga?  No problem.  That’s why yoga is valuable on and off the mat- if I mimic the focus, calmness, and feeling of strength that I find in the poses just in my mind, I can use that to restore my balance and find my stability.  I used to dislike stability because I found it boring.  But I’ve learned that stability is a good thing, a state to relish.  It reminds you that at the end of the day you are in control of yourself and that feels good.  There will be moments of the day that you are purely, uninhibitedly enjoying what you’re doing.  Strive to have as many of those moments as possible.  There will be moments that you don’t enjoy quite as much.  But try not to let yourself stray too far from the middle because that will throw you off balance.