When I was in the third grade, I remember getting my report card and riding home on the bus pleased that I had all Bs, save one C. My buddies report cards were mostly Cs with a few Ds mixed in. I felt like I was at the top and proudly informed my mother of my great accomplishment.
To my great surprise and shock, she would have none of it. She scolded me for my poor grades, reminding me that I did my homework on the bus, never studied, and that I had the potential to make all As. I protested that my friends had worse grades than me. That didn’t matter, she said, I was not my friends and would be measured not by what my friends do but by my own potential. Although I hate to admit it, she was right. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and to be measured any other way than our own potential is meaningless.
The quest, the experience and the simple existence of the spiritual seeker is no different. We are all on the same journey to be sure, but perhaps at a different place. Accordingly, our perspectives of the journey as well as our individual potentials should not be the same. No one is better than anyone else, just different.
This is why the experienced yogi and the beginner can take the same class, do the same poses, yet have an entirely different experience and both come away from the class with satisfaction and benefit. Each yoga student comes at it from a different perspective, and with different potential. To measure or judge one student’s performance against another is meaningless.
Your perspective of this reality is unique, as is your individual potential. Only you know if you are fulfilling your potential, if you are doing your best as a fellow human being. It is only the you in the mirror that must be impressed, that you must make proud. Be guided by your Heart, listen to that soft inner voice and you will always live to your full potential.
Now we are doing yoga…
Namaste
Blair is the co-owner of Yoga Daily in Mt. Pleasant, SC. [https://yogadailymountpleasant.com] He is a certified yoga instructor, recovering lawyer and a spiritual student. The content of this blog is what Blair considers to be universal truths that span all dogma and religion and it is offered to you in Love and Light. Check out Yoga Dude [https://yogadailymountpleasant.com/the-yoga-dude/] for additional blog entries. You can contact Blair at [email protected]. Yoga is but one path to the knowing that we are all One. Please take what resonates with you and leave the rest without judgment or offense.