In order to ‘begin again’ we have to learn to ‘let go’

They say that in India there is a particularly clever way of catching monkeys. As the story goes, hunters will cut a hole in a coconut that is just big enough for a monkey to put its hand through. Then they will drill two smaller holes in the other end, pass a wire through and secure the coconut to the base of a tree. Then they slip a banana inside the coconut through the hole and hide. The monkey comes down, puts his hand in, and takes hold of the banana. The hole is cleverly crafted so the open hand can go in but the fist cannot get out. All the monkey has to do to be free is to let go of the banana. But it seems most monkeys don’t let go.

Story from Full Catastrophe Living Jon Kabat-Zinn

We can be so invested in our habits to the extent that we cannot see the benefits of letting them go. If we have spent days, weeks, a lifetime doing the same thing, why should we change? As a yoga teacher, sometimes I am asked how hamstrings can be ‘lengthened’ or hips ‘opened’. One client informed me he had been doing certain exercises for over ten years now and he felt no change in his hamstrings. My answer would be to practice different exercises.

The truth is, as we get older we can become stuck in doing things in the same way, using the same muscles in our body and same neural networks in our brain. I was once told that it takes repeating the same thing twenty one times for it to become a habit. This can be an advantage to us and it certainly was worth knowing when I started to learn how to play the piano a few years back and appeared to have no control in my left hand at all! Now, having practiced (and practiced!) I can play grade 3 pieces.

On Yoga Practice

To begin again we have to let go of pride in our postures. Sometimes we have to do less to find comfort in our bodies and acknowledge that pushing, pulling and forcing ourselves into shapes is not what our body wants but what our mind is making it do. This way of working spills over into our daily lives and we can begin to acknowledge that expectations and control have the propensity to be destructive to our well being, Vairagya (dispassion) is found through objectivity. If our asanas should be ‘steady and comfortable’ as advised by Patanjali (verse 11.46) then we should be listening to our body.

This way of practicing allows us to notice how we are in each moment with the acknowledgement that each moment is different. If we are invested in doing something in the same way at the same time it can be a habit and our interest may wane. Our practice is kept alive through our imagination and our interest in the simplest of things; our connection to the ground and the breath in our body. In this way, we learn to ‘let go’ and welcome what we feel and experience Now. Next time you come to your mat try something different, there is nothing to lose but expectation and habits.