We start out learning to write with big paper, big crayons. Basic broad strokes as we learned to color inside the lines. Big straight lines on paper with a dotted line going through the center so we could properly scale capital and lowercase letters. As we got older, more skilled, perhaps more refined, the crayons got smaller, big pencils slimmed down, and eventually made their way to fine point pens. Artistically, we had more complex lines to color inside of, until we drew our own lines, and let those lines speak for themselves, or we colored them in as well. Maybe we even started to draw lines with dots, as in pointillism. Lines became dots. We excelled past the point of needing lines. And at some point, we continued on the path of small, or small exploded into big bold splatters of paint. Words turned into poems, bullet points, music. Maybe the pen was abandoned for a keyboard.
But we started with the big, bold, broad strokes.
Same as we developed emotionally. Right and wrong was black and white. Why? Because it was not necessarily in the childs' wheelhouse to grasp the nuance as to why it's ok for Mommy to wear lipstick to church and not the 5 year old. As we developed and mastered understanding of the broad strokes, we might have started questioning, creating new pathways, lines, in our brains. Lines and pathways outside of the thinking of our parents, until we had our own unique way of thinking. We even applaud "independent thinkers" - those who are not governed by the collective consciousness of the masses. Those who no longer believe whatever the "Man" tells us to.
One thing to remember in the context of a yoga practice, especially if you have already developed some degree of mastery or refinement over the course of your years, is to keep in mind that the more we have mastered something, the smaller the adjustment will be. It becomes less and less about the big adjustment, the big light show, the loud band (even though that is all totally fun sometimes!), and more about the subtle. And one thing you know from being in a loud room. Unless you can hear through the noise, you can't hear the subtle. So if your friend is whispering to you "you have 15 seconds to reach into my handbag and take 1 million dollars for yourself, tax free," you will miss what that quiet voice was offering. But hey, if the band was good, maybe it was worth missing out on.
But we started with the big, bold, broad strokes.
Same as we developed emotionally. Right and wrong was black and white. Why? Because it was not necessarily in the childs' wheelhouse to grasp the nuance as to why it's ok for Mommy to wear lipstick to church and not the 5 year old. As we developed and mastered understanding of the broad strokes, we might have started questioning, creating new pathways, lines, in our brains. Lines and pathways outside of the thinking of our parents, until we had our own unique way of thinking. We even applaud "independent thinkers" - those who are not governed by the collective consciousness of the masses. Those who no longer believe whatever the "Man" tells us to.
One thing to remember in the context of a yoga practice, especially if you have already developed some degree of mastery or refinement over the course of your years, is to keep in mind that the more we have mastered something, the smaller the adjustment will be. It becomes less and less about the big adjustment, the big light show, the loud band (even though that is all totally fun sometimes!), and more about the subtle. And one thing you know from being in a loud room. Unless you can hear through the noise, you can't hear the subtle. So if your friend is whispering to you "you have 15 seconds to reach into my handbag and take 1 million dollars for yourself, tax free," you will miss what that quiet voice was offering. But hey, if the band was good, maybe it was worth missing out on.
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