I have a guest post this week on the wonderful, new blog Daisy Among Roses.
The other day in Bikram yoga class, the instructor, Rebecca Jordan, while encouraging the class to go further in the posture, even falling out of the pose and getting back in, if necessary, said “You have to break down to break through. ” She, then, said that Kalil Gibran put it more eloquently, when he wrote “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” (See the full piece below.)
After class, Rebecca and I talked about this further. I said that, I believe, once a person gets to a certain level of knowing and awareness, they can choose to live consciously and learn in gentler ways (thank goodness!) but, until they get to this point, growth usually happens through pain.
I used to only learn through pain. I was stubborn and hard headed. I never got the lesson the first time it presented itself in my life, at the point when it was more of a subtle hint rather than a huge catastrophe. The messages had to get progressively louder and more serious – think major crisis – before I actually paid any attention.
Read more here http://daisyamongroses.com/?p=330
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Again, I am humbled to be the mother of such a wise & wonderful woman. You are truly amazing and the depth of your knowledge becomes more apparent the more you write. Go girl !
You probably were not thinking that at the time all of this was going on! Thanks for seeing me through it and letting me make my own mistakes and learn form them. It had to be hard to watch like a train wreck, I would bet. 🙂
I’ve been there, too, Debbie. Always feeling like it had to be painful to learn. I was always fighting myself and beating myself up for not learning my lessons quicker or easier. A groundbreaking thing happened when I discovered the Feldenkrais Method of somatic movement education. I’ve learned to listen to my body for clues to what is going on in my brain. I’ve slowed down and have learned to be kinder and gentler with myself. Not sure if I agree that we have to ‘break down to break through’, but for many of us that is the only message we hear or are exposed to. Alan Questal is a Feldenkrais teacher and trainer. Much of his work within the Feldenkrais Method is teaching people to like themselves more and it doesn’t have to hurt to do so. His website is http://www.uncommonsensing.com. There are free talks and podcasts located there that expand much more on this concept. Thanks again for another thought provoking post.
Wally, I am so glad you have learned to tune into these messages via the Feldenkrais Method. I think everyone has to find what works for them, and that may be different for each of us, but it is always available.
I do not follow any specific method. I just try to be more aware and conscious in my life, in general. Respond rather than react.