Practicing yoga
on the beach helped me learn about messiness and control in my life. I have
always thought about practicing yoga on the beach as a fun and pleasant
activity. I have been craving it for a while. Finally, two weeks ago I arrived
at the beach on Hilton Head Island with my yoga towel and a bottle of water and
an intent to fully immerse myself in the yoga class offered there. It was 8:30
a.m. in the morning on a sunny day with a fresh breeze coming from the ocean.
The sound of waves crushing against each other was very soothing. I placed my
towel next to another yogi’s towel and stood at the top of it as instructed by
the teacher. As we started engaging in Sun Salutations and other standing
poses, I realized that my towel does not hold my weight very well. The sand
under it got very bumpy. Moreover, sand got on the towel, on my hands, arms,
legs, and feet. It was rubbing against my skin. Wind was blowing sand into my
face. My eyes were stinging with sweat pouring from my forehead. People walking
on the beach were stopping and staring at our small group, some even took
pictures. Seagulls were screaming. Kids were running around sprinkling water
all around. “What a mess!” I thought to myself. Suddenly I felt uncomfortable,
unpleasant, and disappointed. “This is NOT what yoga on the beach is supposed
to be like!”
Then I realized
that there is NOT “supposed to be” for any experience, including yoga on the
beach. It is what it is. I have a choice of accepting this experience as it is
or fighting it. I decided to slow my mind down and focus on my breathing. Soon
I noticed that in addition to all the aforementioned discomforts, I also
experienced pleasure from moving and stretching my body, from the breeze
caressing my sandy arms and legs, and from being able to identify and intensely
listen to the sound of waves. “It’s just like any other part of life,” I heard
a voice in my head. “In order to feel joy and pleasure, you need to immerse
yourself into an experience fully and be willing to take discomfort that comes
with it as well”.
When the class
hit its midpoint, my experience was quite different. I actually stopped minding
sweaty sandy mess that covered my body. My focus shifted towards movement,
breath, and ocean waves. I felt as One with all of that. I still noticed all
the other stuff, like people walking and staring, seagulls screaming and so
forth, but all of them became background for my sense of connection with my
body and nature.
Later on, when I reflected on my
experience in the class, I thought of messiness as an integral part of living.
Nothing good is ever created without a mess, be it a baby being born or a meal
being cooked or a piece of art being created or a tomato being grown. I found the
quote by Charles Caleb Colton that I really resonated with: “Life isn't like a book. Life
isn't logical or sensible or orderly. Life is a mess most of the time”.
So, why are we so mess-phobic? Why are we
trying to keep mess and disorder out of our lives? Somehow we came to equate
mess with danger and evil. We get overwhelmed. We think we will not be able to
cope if we get ourselves in a mess. We don’t have skills or resources. So,
there are different ways to go about the issue. One would be to avoid mess
altogether and accept the consequences of avoiding life and joy and learning
and growth. Another way is to learn skills and obtain necessary resources to
deal with the mess, so that we can experience our lives fully. The choice is
ours. And, we can choose every moment and every day J
