The more you do it, the less it hurts

When I'm teaching the kids and we're stretching, it's not uncommon to hear them say "this hurts!" 99% of the time, it's not an injured or bad kind of pain; it's a sensation that's unfamiliar and uncomfortable. My response is always the same:

Want to know how to make it hurt less? 

The kids who are newer to me look up like I'm about to tell them the greatest secret in the world. I smile, and before I can open my mouth I hear a chorus of my long time students, sometimes with excitement, sometimes with an eye roll,

Do it more! 

You don't learn something new by staying the same. I love the song Painting Pictures of Egypt because it talks about how hard it can be to leave what we know, even for something we know will be better

It's not about losing faith 
It's not about trust 
It's all about comfortable 

The future feels so hard 
And I want to go back 

Familiar things are never easy to discard 
I was dying for some freedom 
But now I hesitate to go 
I am caught between the Promise 
And the things I know 


I like routine. Stability. Familiar. It's not hard for me to find ways to be uncomfortable. But I think it's really important to challenge ourselves because if you only ever do what you know, how will you grow?

I didn't even know this expression of bow pose (dhanurasana) existed until six or seven months ago, so to say I "finally" got into it with ease seems unfair. But bow pose and I have had a love hate relationship for as long as I've been practicing. I have one memory from about a year ago where I requested it specifically because I was having a hard time with it, and the other woman in class (yes, that was my tiny yoga class) said she disliked it. I said, "So do I, but that's why I wanted to work on it". She said, "Huh, I guess that's a good perspective". Even though I have a lot of mobility in my shoulders, flipping my grip has also had quite the learning curve with me, and that combined with the fact that I actually don't have a lot of natural flexibility in my back, has made this pose a challenge.



I kept working on flipping my grip in poses that were easier for me, even though it was still not always comfortable or easy. I worked on one side at a time until today when I could actually grab both and feel good and yes, breathe.

As Coach Kate would say

The more you do it, the less it hurts