Everyone Wants What Yoga Delivers...

Everyone wants what yoga delivers. Everyone. Without exception. Everyone wants to be strong, mobile, energetic, grounded, relaxed, and in a state of inner peace and contentment with themselves and the world around them. The issue is, the vast majority of people do not want to do the yoga that will deliver them what they seek in life.

"Not I" said the Pig:

In the story of the Little Red Hen, the hen of the title seeks assistance from the other farmyard animals in the process of sowing wheat, tending to the wheat as it grows, harvesting the wheat, milling it into flour, and baking it into bread. Throughout, she is met with refusals. "Who will help me?" she asks. "Not I" say the pig, the dog, the cow, the horse, and all the other animals. Yet, when the bread is made, and the wonderful smell of it wafts around the farmyard, all the other animals want to eat it.

Mobility:

If I talk to people and ask them if they want to be mobile, "flexible" if you want to put it that way, they respond that they do want that. If I ask whether they want to do yoga, most respond in the negative. A large proportion say they are too inflexible to do yoga. They perceive flexibility as an entry qualification to participate in yoga practice rather than as a beneficial outcome of participating in yoga practice.

Strength:

I ask people whether they want to be strong. Some say they go to the gym. Others say they should go to the gym. Others still say yes, but suggest it is all too much trouble and effort to be strong. When I tell them they can get strong from practicing yoga they have various responses. One is surprise, because they have always supposed yoga to be about stretching rather than strengthening. Another response is disbelief, because they know there are no weights in yoga and wonder how someone could get strong without weights, such is their narrowly fixed mindset on the process of strengthening and what strength looks like in a person's body.

If I suggest they take up yoga to become strong, they do not leap at the opportunity, often proclaiming their own method of physical exercise. These methods do not seem to be working. Doubling down on methods that are of limited efficacy while refusing a method that offers outcomes is unwise.

Relaxation and other Benefits:

The same sort of "Not I" responses come with respect to relaxation versus stress, inner peace versus inner dislike, and peacefulness of mind versus over-activity of mind. People want the outcome. But they refuse the pathway. I have heard so many times over the years the refrain "I can't meditate", but no-one who says that has put any time into the practice. They have not applied themselves.

Their lack of application to meditation is like someone going on one or two runs of just a kilometer or two and then saying they cannot run a marathon. Of course, someone who has only done a couple of very short runs will not be able to run 42.2 km. They need to build up to that. Likewise, the first few times a person sits to meditate may not seem very meditative. The person may spend the 5 or 10 minutes they have given themselves, wrestling with their thoughts and not feeling very clear and relaxed at all. They need to train their focus for meditation just as a runner needs to train their leg and heart muscles, and their lungs for longer distance running.

Be Willing to Dig Deep:

An impediment to people practicing yoga is a desire for quick results. It seems people are unwilling to dig deep. Just like in the parable of the two farmers who seek water in a dry period. One farmer digs a hole ten feet deep and gets no water. He tries elsewhere, digs down ten feet and still gets no water. He goes around his land doing the same thing until he has ten holes, all ten feet deep, but no water. His neighbour digs one hole. Down and down and down the neighbour digs. He digs past 10, 20, 30 and 40 feet deep, and still he keeps going until, finally, 100 feet down, he strikes water.

If you seek the rewards of strength, mobility, energy, groundedness, a clear, calm mind, and inner peace, yoga is the pathway for it all. Everyone wants what yoga delivers. In order to get those outcomes, apply yourself to yoga practice. Do the work. Be committed. Be humble. Be patient. You will experience the rewards of yoga practice. Some may come more quickly. You may immediately experience a good night's sleep, better than normal. Some will take longer to develop. Be assured, every breath that you are in the poses and transitions of yoga practice, the practice is at work upon you.

Everyone Wants What Yoga Delivers:

Yoga transforms. It delivers on whole being (physical, energetic, nervous system, mental and spiritual levels) outcomes of health and vitality, vigour, and inner peace. Everyone wants what yoga delivers. Now, practice the yoga to receive its wonderful properties. "Not I" does not cut it. Be a yes for the process if you want the benefits.