1-Up

Over the years I have repeatedly heard my yoga teachers say, “It’s never the same pose twice.” Each time you enter into a posture, it will look different than the last time and the time before that. My teachers have explained that there are countless variables that affect the shapes we are able to make with our bodies on any given day. These can be internal variables like whether or not you’ve eaten, the presence of muscle soreness, how much stress you are under, and your ability to concentrate. There are also external variables such as the temperature of the room, the time of day, and the music that is playing. Considering the unlimited combinations of these factors, each time you come into the pose you are approaching it from a different starting point–and that naturally changes where you end up.

I experience this every time I am on my mat. One day I might be feeling so strong and focused that I launch into crow pose and balance neatly on my hands. Another day I might not even attempt to pick my feet up off the ground, because my physical or emotional foundation is too shaky and I am afraid of a face plant. This happens in more basic poses, too, where there is no question about being able to make the shape yet it looks and feels different from one sequence to the next. My ability to execute a posture on any given day is certainly influenced by the skills I have built through years of practicing, but they're not the whole story.

This is really exciting to me. Each time I practice the pose I get to start over, or–as I sometimes think of it–I get to pass Go and collect $200. It doesn't matter that yesterday I toppled over while attempting crow pose. Today I am approaching it from a place I've never stood before, and I have no way of knowing the exact outcome. I only know it will be different.

I think this is a realistic yet optimistic way to view yoga practice and life as a whole. In each moment we get a chance to start anew. No one has ever taken the step I am about to take. And no matter the background of the situation or the patterns of behavior I typically fall into, I get to decide what I do with that moment. The result is unknown; if I don't like it, I have learned something. Then I can take a deep breath and push the reset button, because I get to start over.