Will and I were in the car a few days ago, about to merge onto 495 when the traffic in front of us came to a dead stop on the ramp.
As we were paused, Will looked over and noticed the yield sign.
“Mom, does that mean stop?”
When I explained that it means the cars on the ramp have to make way for the cars on the highway and slow down to find the right time to fit themselves into the flow of traffic, Will was perplexed by why the car ahead of us had stopped.
I told him that it can be scary to have to merge into this fast moving lane of traffic and sometimes it feels safer to just stop.
“I can understand that,” he said in his oh-so-wise 8-year old way. “But mom, how do you know when to go?”
Now that question made me pause.
How do we know when it is time to go? How can we tell if it is time to assert ourselves into the flow or if it is wise to hang back?
The answer, of course, is my favorite… IT DEPENDS.
And of course, we know when it’s time to go because we practice.
This whole conversation with Will reminded me of this book. So when I got home, I dug it out from the depths of the bookshelf and remembered the brilliance of
Donna Farhi’s Seven Principles of Moving. In very brief summary:
The first principle is to breath, and more specifically to let the breath move you.
Second, she says we need to yield.
Yield to the Earth to find levity.
At first the idea that we need to yield to the Earth to find lightness seemed almost counter-intuitive. But I realized that my idea of yielding was this first set of definitions in my dictionary:
capitulate… relent, admit defeat…quit, give in, give up…
I don’t know about you, but giving up or giving in rarely makes me feel light.
But what Donna Farhi is really talking about is here:
This is what we are called to do, my friends, whether it is on the road or on our yoga mat or in our relationships.
Pay Attention.
Permit.
Allow.
This is kind of yielding that gives us access to levity. And to possibility.
It doesn’t feel like sinking or giving up.
It doesn’t feel like fear.
And it definitely doesn’t feel like uncertainty.
When we pay attention, permit, and allow, we know when it’s time to take action…Or not.
But you know what?
It is not easy. It takes tons of practice.
Just like driving the car down the on-ramp to merge into the fast-moving traffic on 495 takes practice.
So I’ll see you on the mat and out in the big wide world where we can practice the art of yielding together.