perfection is a flaw

"When the roots are deep there is no need to fear the wind."

The more that people are finding out about my 100 day project, the more that I am surprised at just how surprised people are. They act like it's a normal thing at first, but then the concept seeps in like rain after a drought and after the conversation has shifted onward they circle back to ask for more details about the project. "What is it?" "Are you participating with a group of people?" "Is there a pre-designed component?" "Did you have to sign up for it?"

In yoga people make instant connections. A guy I practiced next to earlier this week was in Hatha class tonight. He set up his mat next to me and we proceeded to discuss the upcoming class which led us a comparison of where we are in our yoga practice. He is a newbie. I expressed my long on-and-off again relationship with yoga (my fault, I was sort of afraid of commitment for a while), but that I had made a new promise to my practice through the 100 day project. He had a similar reaction that the masses have had.

It's as if people are baffled by the idea of taking on a project of one's own free will.

Why?

Because we have been programmed to believe we need to be told what to do.

I never learned that lesson. Actually, I was raised with quite the opposite.

My mother intentionally provided me with unlimited opportunities to voice my opinion. When I was older, she told that at one point in my younger years my step-dad asked her if they as parents needed to help me learn the appropriate way to share my perspective. He was worried about me not fitting in or being too abrasive. He meant well. He loved me and he wanted to protect me. My mother shut that idea down. She told him that was not how they were going to shape me and that my voice would be encouraged and not organized into some societal expectation.

Today, those roots are deep in the foundation of who I am. I am rooted in self-advocacy, defending social injustices, and inspiring those I encounter. It is not easy. Quite the opposite. The wind will blow, the storms will surge, and the elements will challenge the strength the roots. But I remain.

Through Hatha class, many poses require the straightening and extending of the back as you inhale; then reaching as your exhale. You must root yourself into the pose in order to grow the branches. Expanding your reach expands your belief in yourself. Expanding your belief in yourself expands your abilities. Expanding your abilities expands your perspective. Expanding your perspective expands your relationships.

Feet out in front of me, legs bent, hands holding onto the balls of my feet, feet flexed, the instructor says, "No extend your legs while holding onto your feet." I start to straighten my legs but hesitate. I was never able to touch my toes - ever - and so how could this even be possible? Wait. My decision to not attempt this pose is essentially cutting off one of my own limbs. So I straightened. I kept my grip. I breathed into the pose holding onto my foundation and listening carefully to my body.