Life unfolds naturally when we surrender to it
My 6:30 alarm goes off on Saturday and I am excited for it. I shower, dress myself, make my green smoothie and skip (literally) out the front door — coffee and yoga mat in hand — and make my way to the studio. You wouldn’t think that people would want to carve out time for a yoga class on a Saturday morning, but you would be amazed. We unite, we flow, we breathe, we connect and we all leave feeling invincible and ready for our weekend. Seconds after class ends I hop in my car and make the trek up to Turner for yet another great ski day where I am sure to run into many familiar faces and will surely be able to challenge myself.
It doesn’t matter where I am at in nature, it is my happy place. Turner is peaceful, remote and whenever I am there I feel immersed in nature’s magnificence. It wasn’t until recently that I began to see how much my yoga practice informs my skiing, and how much the two disciplines have in common. On a physical level, applying yoga posture foundations (maintaining a strong core, keeping the breath smooth, full and even and keeping the joints relaxed) to skiing is incredibly useful.
My natural reaction would normally be to stare down the hill and become tense and rigid as I approached something challenging, but instead, I remind myself to breathe. I soften my grip on my poles and gently engage my core whilst letting my limbs be relaxed and springy, and like magic my skiing technique immediately improves. The desire for some control that I was clinging onto with my rigid grip actually only comes when I let go a little. Then I can flex, bend, ride out the bumps and slow myself down when I need to. I can surrender into the moment. There’s a life lesson there.
One of the beautiful things about skiing is that, like practicing yoga asana, it becomes a moving meditation; an exercise in mindfulness. There is little choice but to be completely absorbed in the moment, in what your body is doing and the information your senses are giving you. Both require concentration, a single-pointed awareness. Much like in a balancing posture, the moment your mind wanders you can be sure that a fall is not far behind. Thankfully the falls are rarely too painful or serious; they teach us resilience and that we can laugh, pick ourselves back up and try again, and you’re certainly not the only one on the ground. That graceful skier gliding effortlessly past you/fellow yoga student floating up into an arm balance... I promise you, it took them hundreds of hours of practicing and face-plants to get there. We have to let go of our need to control. We have to surrender into the moment.
I suspect it’s slightly different for everyone, but here’s what control mode looks and feels like for me: My vision gets very narrow and focused, my breath is shallow, adrenaline is pumping and my heart rate increases. My mind shifts from topic to topic and from past to future very quickly, and I have little concentration, poor memory, and almost no present-moment awareness. In surrender mode, I’m calm, peaceful. Breathing deeply, present in the moment. I see clearly and my vision extends out around me, allowing me to (literally) see the bigger picture. So the great irony is that attempting to control things actually feels less in control. When I’m micro-managing and obsessing over details, I know I’m in my own way. You get my drift?
Being here in winter, the ski season is still fresh but I can see patches of long-buried grass and muddy earth reveal itself. This is a potent reminder of the impermanent nature of everything, and a stark reminder to enjoy the moment. Taking a rest in the startling bright sunshine as it reflects off the glittering snow beneath us and highlights the bleak majesty of the Cabinet Mountain Range that surrounds us. Understanding that all of this was here far before I was ever born or thought about. This will all be here after I am long gone. I feel a sense of peace and a strong sense of blissful contentment. I feel humbled by the bigness of everything around me, and the smallness of myself.
What do you want to do now? Are you doing it? Surrender and let life unfold naturally.
Danielle Spillman is a local certified yoga instructor, health enthusiast and writer. You can find more of her musings at www.findyourlightyoga.com.