Let's talk about breakthroughs!

Let's talk about breakthroughs. Can you think of the last time you had one? Was it at work? Home? Was it managing to get your dog to not bark at the UPS delivery person? Was it staying off you phone for the morning? Mastering a new dance move? Singing Bohemian Rhapsody uninterrupted? Typing blind? Catching a peanut?

How did it happen? It seems like breakthroughs just appear...but they don't. Breakthroughs are the result of patient, consistent, tiny increments in learning. In other words: practice.

This is me in a one-legged crow. For years, not only could I not do it, but I didn't even understand how to do it. I couldn't get my head around it, even when someone showed me step by step what to do. Then one day, I calmly stepped onto my mat, warmed up a bit, and pulled it off. Now I can do it. I figured out how to ride that bike, so to speak.

The surprising and somewhat magical thing is that I have not really been practicing this pose. I've been doing lots of yoga, though, and that was preparation, both mental and physical, for this more advanced posture.

The work leading to breakthroughs can be unrelated and even unconscious. We can be experimenting with adjacent drills and then, there it is! Understandably, the subtlety of context surrounding a breakthrough is also why some things are hard to teach, and you just need to trust yourself, the process, and the passage of time.

Next time you're struggling to move to the next level in a life, work, physical or mental matter, consider not just the path in front of you, but the adjacent paths that might lead you to success.

See you on the mat!

Stefane

PS - folks departing PS for the hot season: FaceTime yoga works! I've done it with many clients, and it does the trick for maintaining your practice while you're away, plus I get to see your sweet face! Hit me up!