Starting over, again.

We all have to start over at many points in our lives; we move, we start over; we change jobs, we start over; a new relationship begins, we start over. Often times we tend to think of ‘starting over’ as failure, but really it’s just getting back to the basics and learning to adapt and apply what you already know to a new situation. I am starting to see ‘starting over’ as something truly beautiful, and magical. In that moment, where we begin again, we get to take the lessons from our previous experiences and gain perspective that gives us a new way to see the situation we are being placed in. This is how we grow in life. And this is what I realized today during my yoga practice.

It’s been over a month since my last yoga practice, and it has been several months since I have been able to practice multiple times in a week like I had grown accustomed to. Life changes have been a big part of that, but that’s OK because I knew that yoga was still a part of me since it isn’t only what you practice on the mat but within day to day life itself; the mat would still be waiting for me. And so today, although my body was a tad stiffer than the last time my mat and I met, I got to ‘start over, again’ with yoga. It was interesting to come back and find that moment where muscle memory meets things that you hadn’t realized about certain poses. Yes, the instructor’s breakdown of where my hip/chest/shoulder should be was hugely instrumental in this and that’s why the instructor can make or break a class, especially for beginners; but really it was the fact that I returned to a beginner’s class, humbled and ready to listen again to just how I should approach each pose.

In yoga, and in life, we learn something and become good at it from doing it over and over again, oftentimes thinking that we have now mastered it and no longer need to be reminded of the basics. Starting over helps get us back to those basics, to say ‘look, sure you’re doing this well but you can always do better.’ We can always do better. So starting over, again, is just another part in that process of learning how to do better.