Check this out. It’s a portrait of yoga insanity my teacher shared with the class last night called the Double Buddhasana.
I know, right? I hurt myself just looking at it.
My first thought was somebody’s going to need a good orthopedic surgeon. My second was that person won’t ever be me because there’s just no way. I mean, seriously. Did you see that pose? My instructor said you actually have to have somebody help you into it. That’s how hard it is.
Then again… maybe that’s the point.
Because for me yoga is all about the challenge. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’s not a practice in complacency. It’s a place where my body and my spirit push the possibilities and look to see just how far I can take them. What are my limits? Where does the very edge of my abilities lie? If I go all the way, how far will I get?
Like life itself, success shouldn’t be measured by whether we could or couldn’t, but whether we went for it. As long as we do and give it all that we’ve got, it doesn’t matter if we don’t make the finish line. We win because we didn’t settle for the merely possible. We kept pushing until we ran headlong into the impossible.
That’s the Double Buddhasana. It’s undoable for me. But then again maybe it’s not. I won’t know until I try to get there, and that’s its true test.
Yes, I am 100% sure I am not that bendable. But on the other hand, I am also 100% sure I don’t know for certain that I can’t be, and in finding out, I’ll discover a lot more about myself than the fact itself. The point isn’t the pose. It’s the path to it and what we find along the way. It’s my willingness to give it a whirl and give it my all.
That’s all the Double Buddhasana asks. And that’s why I am going for it. I might not make it. But by daring to start, I already have.