When you are overflowing with natural ability, it is easy to ignore the steps that get a desired result. In fact, some folks get annoyed when someone wants to teach them a specific process when their current way gets the outcome they want. Ask any AAU basketball coach.
Often, it’s not until innate gifts start to fade, fatigue or fall short that you start breaking down your methods. However, if you’ve never thought about it before, it’s hard to discover how to get your best result while you are in the midst of a struggle. Over the years, I’ve learned there is value to assessing how I work when I’m feeling neutral.
For me, yoga class is a reflective space that offers parallels for the rest of my life. By learning to respect the process I use to find strength and stability in yoga poses, I’ve gained insights into how to do the same for any challenge.
Get grounded.
To start every yoga pose I tune in to my breathing. Breathing keeps me present and focused on the task at hand. Even more importantly, breathing is the first step for me to get grounded.
Kicking my legs into the air or stretching my torso up and away from my yoga mat only happens safely when I am appropriately grounded. When I feel strong, I can do most poses without thinking much about foundation. As I begin to fatigue, I am served by remembering to use my breath to root my base so the rest of my body can soar.
In the rest of my life, I ground myself by tuning in to my spirit. I reflect on what makes any experience meaningful by recalling my unique purpose. I actually have a purpose statement that helps bring my mind into alignment with my spirit. This provides the spiritual grounding necessary for me to take the proper next steps with confidence.
Consider the core.
Once I am grounded on my mat, it is tempting to start flinging my limbs around to achieve a desired asana. Instead, I’ve learned there is another consideration before all that impressive movement begins. I have to pay attention to what is happening in my core to remain grounded as I move forward.
For the majority of poses, I focus on which core muscles to tighten to get extra length in my spine or better balance on one leg. Sometimes, it serves me best to concentrate more on what part of my core needs to be relaxed to reach full expression of a posture.
Likewise, outside the yoga studio, I have certain core guidelines that keep me grounded in my spirit as I move forward. Any seemingly bold and remarkable steps I make are based in core principles that promote the stability of my spiritual foundation. Wavering from my core essentials gets me unsettled and off track from full realization of my goals.
Considering my core guidelines keeps me on task by reminding me of proper boundaries. Because I am naturally tightly wound, these essential principles also provide insight about what needs to happen for me to stay open to people and possibilities.
Use attention and intention.
In the past, being physically and mentally strong gave me a tendency to power through to endpoints without assessing my process. Even if the middle was a bit of mess, I usually achieved the desired outcome. Over time, it became clear powering through had limits.
My lack of grounding or attention to core would present itself as a problem in areas where I had unexpected weakness. I’d encounter a new challenge that I couldn’t overcome simply with hard work. I’d achieve intended results I couldn’t maintain. Effort alone was not a reliable plan for long-term, reproducible success.
Nowadays, I know it is essential to pay attention to my grounding purpose and be intentional about core principles when I begin a challenge. While the end is important, it is simply the final step of many that must be done deliberately.
The next time you find yourself struggling to achieve a result, I invite you to consider how you well you respect your process – or even how well you know what it is.
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Dr Jattu Senesie is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, certified success coach, physician satisfaction specialist and speaker. She blogs about issues of self care and well-being in an effort to help her fellow altruistic high achievers find satisfaction in their success as early in their careers as possible.
