Get out of your own way

During my yoga class this lunchtime my yoga instructor (the wise and wonderful Tovah Rich) told us to 'get out of our own way'. This statement had a huge impact on me and I have been thinking about it all day. She was referring to the idea of our mind being the obstruction to us being able to sink deep into the posture. We were encouraged to remove this barrier and allow the muscle tissue to open up to its own degree rather than to where we think it should be. In effect, get our minds out of the way of our muscle tissue.

My mind went to my martial arts practice and to the 'no-mind' approach of not trying to overthink your movements, trusting your body to move in response to all the training. Similarly, as a beginner - you see people that have been training for years moving their bodies with such flexibility, speed and precision and tell yourself that you will never be able to do that. Your mind in this case is actively preventing you from moving like that, we need to get our minds out of the way, focus on the movements we are trying to master as a beginner and trust that you are on the road to that flying, spinning 360 killer kick.

I have also been thinking about this lesson in terms of corporate America. My organization has put up so many self-imposed restrictions and processes to prevent agility, innovation and free-thinking. Imagine how productive we could be if we could break through the precious "process" and get out of our own way.

Take a look at your life, your family, your community, your organization and think about all the ways in which you could apply this to. All the unnecessary self-imposed barriers to success.

Nick
Green stripe sash

Wisdom

This month at the kung fu school we have been talking about wisdom. We were tasked with thinking of someone in our lives that possesses wisdom. Normally we associate wisdom with age and experience but when thinking about this task I kept thinking about my new son Ethan. We start out in life with a wisdom that is lost as we age - living entirely in the moment and it takes training such as martial arts or yoga to briefly regain this. One of the great benefits of martial arts training is that due to beings so mentally and physically demanding we can't possibly be thinking about our mental 'to do' list or worrying about the stresses in our lives while we train. It is a release from this huge burden life places upon us. Babies exist entirely this way. While caring for a baby it forces you to slow down as well. While I have 101 things I need to be getting on with while at home, while I am holding Ethan I can't get to any of it. You are then faced with 2 choices in life - be frustrated by it or accept that they are not going to get done right now and that the only thing to do is hold your child and fill it with love. Imagine what a wonderful world it would be if people treated each other like that and not just their offspring. If the next time you interacted with someone you gave them 100% of your attention and not just limit the interaction to communicate what you need and rush off to the next task. I am learning so much from Ethan, he is pushing me to the limits of my patience and endurance but I have found that the greatest contributions to my own personal wisdom have been learned at these extremes.

Nick
Green stripe sash