Don’t Count Yourself Out

By Andrea Jarrell

When I first started practicing yoga at 43, I marveled at the yogis around me doing

headstands and handstands. But rather than trying to learn those poses, I dismissed them and in

so doing dismissed my potential. Without really thinking about it, my framework was: At my

age, I know what I can do. I’m just not a headstand person.

Yoga teachers are fond of asking students to notice the similarities between the way they

practice on their mats and the way they live in the world. Distracted? Thinking about the next

pose instead of the one you’re in? Pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion? You might be

distracted, rushing ahead, and depleted outside the yoga room. Happily, it works the other way

too — our practice can inspire the way we live off our mats.

Thank goodness when I first started practicing I heard my teachers say, “Don’t count

yourself out.” For me, that meant asking myself, Who says I’m not a headstand person? My first

headstand has remained a personal reminder of possibility. Because before yoga, headstands

weren’t even part of my universe. My yoga practice has taught me to ask, What else am I

capable of that I have not yet allowed myself to see? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the same

year of my first headstand, I started achieving my dreams as a writer as well.

The next time you practice, you might consider whether you’re counting yourself out in

any way. Maybe you formed an opinion of a pose or of yourself in that pose a long time ago that

you might see differently today. This doesn’t mean taking on a pose that doesn’t feel safe to you.

But it does mean staying present and curious in your practice — curious to your potential on

your mat. As you pursue that potential, it might even lead to new growth off your mat. Who says

you can’t find stillness for a full five minutes in savasana? Such regular stillness might even

open up a life-changing meditation practice. Who says you can’t fly back in crow? And what

kind of flight might that inspire you to take off your mat?

Andrea Jarrell teaches Power 2.0 at PureFire. Off the mat, she’s an author and communications

strategist for nonprofits, cultural institutions, colleges, and universities.