“Don’t fight the wobble” is one of my favorite new yoga phrases. I say it when we are working on balance. The wobble is what happens while you are making those fine-tuned adjustments of weight, posture, focus, breathe, gravity, etc. and you wobble a little. If you didn’t wobble it’s because you are an inanimate object, like a statue or a house.
A little bit of wobble is just part of the deal. It becomes a problem when you try to stop the wobble and over-compensate. The more you fight, the bigger the wobble, and then you topple. The key for me is to soften and back off my effort a little. Ease up. Expect the wobble.
It’s like driving in snow and ice…when you feel yourself starting to slip a little your first reaction (or logical brain) might be to step on the brakes to slow down and gain some control (you wish). But, as anyone who has grown up in the midwest will tell you, putting on your brakes on ice is how you slide off the road and out of control. When you feel yourself starting to slide on ice, you ease up your grip on the steering wheel, take your foot off the gas a little, and just let the car ease itself out of the ice. And maybe pray a little. (And my Dad is saying in my brain “pump the brakes!” – but that doesn’t fit into my metaphor).
For me, and probably all of us, feeling wobbly and out of balance in life is a constant. A bad nights sleep, a stressful conversation, cold weather, a messy house, too many cookies, boredom, feeling rushed — all of it can throw me off a little or a lot, and it’s hard to know how to get myself back in balance. There’s a lot of wobbling and fine-tuning that goes on. There’s never one perfect moment of feeling in balance. Life continues and we constantly adjust towards balancing. The more I try to control and fight against feeling wobbly, the more out of control I end up. So, I practice easing up, loosen my grip on expectations of myself and others, and allow for a certain amount of wobbling.
The next Daily Bread Yoga retreat is all about Balancing; with an emphasis on the ing. It’s a work in progress, always. How do we expect and trust that the wobble is just proof of trying to find our balance, and not a sign that we are horribly out of balance?
I need it bad too, it’s not just you. I hope you will come.
Saturday, January 10th, 9a.m.-noon, at Philo Presbyterian Church (105 E Jefferson St. – 2 blocks east of HWY 130/High Cross Rd.). Cost is $20. Please bring a mat and a bottle of water. Snacks always and forever provided. If you need to borrow a mat, please let me know! And please let me know that you are coming, and how many friends and family you are bringing, so I can be excited to see you.
Peace on your head,
Rachel
