Broken Open
Posted on December 15, 2012 by Janis Bowersox, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
How yoga students are like sea shells
Several summers ago, one of the teachers at my yoga studio, Julia Hepfer, taught a beach yoga class. She invited everyone to go to the water’s edge and find a shell. Back on their mats, she asked them to look at their shells, to see their beauty. Then she invited the students to notice the imperfections while they practiced yoga, and to appreciate their own uniqueness.
I was on vacation at Sanibel Island, Florida, famous for its shell-covered beaches. People comb the beach from sunrise to sunset gathering shells. As I walked the beach in Florida, I found myself drawn to the shells that were broken open. The imperfections of the shells revealed a hidden beauty.
Just as every shell is unique, so is every person. Many students come to yoga looking to polish their shells. In the search for perfection they discover their imperfections. “We’re all the same, but different,” the Anatomy teacher for our yoga teacher training program kept saying. The differences reveal the beauty. The blemishes make us special.
Shells are tossed and turned in the ocean before they land on the shore, and their breaking apart is a natural process. We too are tossed and turned on our journey. Each time we are turned around and upside down, it is a little disorienting, and it may be painful. We give our students the opportunity to practice being tossed and turned. On their mats, students find themselves unbalanced, off center, literally upside down. They keep coming back to their breath and their center.
Just as each shell is unique in its journey, and has survived even the most turbulent of storms, so our students learn to weather the storms of life, emerging stronger, more vibrant. Just as the shells on the beach are surrounded by other shells, our students find themselves in community with each other, drawing on each other’s successes and comforting each other through difficult times. As they leave each class, their hearts radiate from an inner beauty that is more brilliant than any image of perfection they may wish to attain.
I honor your uniqueness.
