When in yoga class, one of my favourite instructors says, "Do it badly. Get it wrong."
It's a refreshing perspective for all of us who are expected to be better parents, better partners, better workers. Advice comes at us from all directions about how to get healthier, how to be more productive, how to look younger than our age, how to slim down. I even see young women criticizing other young women in public about their appearance or parenting.
How did we get so critical? And judgemental? And unloving?
Never in all of these things is the idea that we are already good enough, that we already try hard, that we already burn the candle at both ends, that we already are productive, hardworking people.
When my yoga teacher asks us to get it wrong, her words are not empty. She never asks us to do more than we feel comfortable with, yet she encourages us to stretch ourselves at the same time. There's no undercurrent or hidden agenda. She doesn't judge, she likely doesn't have an opinion at all.
I want to be like her.
First published May 2016 in my free monthly email newsletter, Starry Night. Sign up here.
