May 3, 2008...9:01 pm
Go Big or GO HOME!
So today in yoga, I was lucky (yes, lucky) to have Cisco as my teacher. Cisco is the kind of teacher, much like Jen, who makes you work just a little harder than you think you can. His classes are tough, funny, and engaging. I always love it when he comes up to “the hot little orange room” to teach.
It’s not unusual for the teacher, no matter who it is, to tell a story during the floor series. I have multiple theories for why they do this. One of which is that they probably think that by telling us stories we will ignore how brutally hard they are working us. Here’s a hint, we DON’T!! Anyhow, there I was between Cobra and Locust and Cisco starts into his story.. He begins by telling us he works from home, and often uses TV to drown out the silence. Just the other day, he was watching some particularly horrid reality show and heard this phrase,
“Go big or go home.”
He told us (after the second set of Locust) that he rewound the DVR again and again just listening to this phrase. Of course we’ve all heard this before. I know I have. Usually it’s related to some sport where the main object of the game is to triumph in strength and endurance. Or it’s indicative of some sort of success (financial, relationship, etc..) where one must make a splash to be recognized. But today, as Cisco pointed out, it took on a slightly different shade. At least for me.
I don’t go into that room to do half a class. I don’t get dressed, pack my bag, get into my car and drive to the studio for mediocre practice. For Cisco, he used this motivation to finish a project that had been haunting him. But he went on to apply it to our yoga practices. In the same way a coach might motivate a sports team, he crafted his words together. And throughout the rest of the class, he reminded us.. Go big or go home.
In the yoga room, there’s no competition. There’s no winner and loser. There’s only you and your mat. You and your reflection. You and the complex body that you have. All the muscles, fascia, tissue, organs, joints, bones, and skin. That’s your team. But the true competitor for the yogi is the mind.
I go back and forth with fighting myself and fighting my mind. But today I tried very hard to just let go. And towards the end of class, as Cisco reminded us on that one last sit-up I chose to go big.
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