Finding Beauty
Your Body is a Stage
At last week’s Anusara® yoga Teacher Training in Paris, my poetic friend Sianna Sherman beautifully described the body as, “either a cage to trap you or a stage to set you free.”
Think about it. Our bodies are the vehicles through which we experience the world. What we touch-smell-taste-hear-see is filtered through our own particular physical parameters – through the amalgamation of sensations that is us. Through our bodies we suffer pain and illness, but also ecstasy.
When I find myself complaining about sore hamstrings, or wishing that my backbends looked more teardrop-shaped than bridge-like, I remember that I am privileged even to have such concerns. We can use our limitations as excuses to give up, or to feel resentful, but neither of those reactions serve us. When we begin to appreciate our abilities more than we resent our limitations, our body becomes our stage – a place filled with sensation, drama, beauty, emotion, and artistry.
We need to recognize our limitations so that we can celebrate our gifts, but we also need to regularly test those limits, to push at what we believe to be our boundaries and constraints – to get a taste of our potential and savor our fullness.
The question we need to ask ourselves is: Who do we want to be and how do we want to be within our bodies?