YOGA, WRITING & PATIENCE

I haven't written about yoga and writing in a while, but while I was reading 40 Days to Personal Revolution by Baron Baptiste, a blog idea formed in my head.


And it has to do with 
Law 9: Don't Rush the Process



Which really means PATIENCE.

New writers tend not to have patience. I was once a new writer with no patience. I wanted to be the best now, and I was determined to show you that I was. So I wrote a picture book in about a week and passed it out waiting for praise. It never came.

I had always been a pretty good writer. I got A's on all my school papers. Teachers would write in the margins how great my ideas were and how eloquently I expressed them. So how could writing children's books be any different? And why wasn't I getting immediate praise for my brilliant ideas and amazing way of writing them?




Hmmm…

I needed a dose of humility, which I thankfully got at my first writer's retreat, where I gleamed with pride over my rushed picture book, waiting for the praise I knew was sure to come.

When I received my picture book back with red marks all over it and questions in the margins, instead of praise, I was shocked. 

It was like my first yoga class where, in the mirror, I saw how awesome my poses were, but then the teacher came over and moved my foot and my arm and pulled my hips up higher. I was a new yogi, and so, of course, I had no patience. 


I had always been into sports, able to move my body, and knew where my arms and legs were at all times. So why was this yoga teacher "helping" me? I was irritated and so went back to the way I did MY pose. 

I continued my practice, and teachers continued to help me. And little by little, I was less irritated by their help. When I allowed patience and learning to happen, I grew longer, and taller and opened my heart, and my practice strengthened. 

Mirror this to my writing today. Ten years ago, when I first decided to go to my first writer's retreat, I winged it. I figured I was good enough. I didn't accept critique. I didn't like the red marks on my writing. I had no patience for the growth I needed to become a better writer. 

As time passed, and my work was rejected, I knew I had to take a breath, step back, and learn something. I took writing classes. I joined a critique group. I wrote every day. And my writing grew.

Today, I know that my first writing sucked. It did. I know that my first yoga poses sucked. They did. But I had wonderful teachers, and they helped me on my path to better my writing and my poses. 


In 40 Days, there is a line that came from one of Baron's students, and this is where this blog idea came from.

"I learned I had to be willing to show up and suck until I could show up and shine."

I love this line because it's so true in everything I do. I will suck until I shine…but I will only shine if I put in the time.


My writing and my poses have come a long way in 10 years. I am ready to submit and know that my writing is ready to be read. I also know my poses are much better, stronger, and balanced. But I also know there is always room for growth.

Now, when yoga teachers help me, I thank them. And when other writers critique my writing, I thank them. 

Be open and be patient. Allow yourself to fail, to go into child's pose to relax, to write an awful line of prose, to get red marks all over your paper, to fall out of a headstand, and know that it's the patience and the process that makes you stronger.



Write~on
Angie