This weekend was absolutely amazing for me and team MFML. We went up to Glasgow for the OM Yoga Show. We absolutely loved meeting the Scottish yogis and movers, meeting some of our own Scottish friends and making many new ones. Our gorgeous Sylvia Garcia taught a workshop with Katie Burn (together known as London Acro Ladies).
Their workshop on Acro Yoga Therapeutics (think Thai Massage in the air) gave folks a lovely new perspective on Acro Yoga, something sometimes seen as a tad showy-offy as it looks very impressive to us mere mortals. Acro Therapeutics turned the world of Acro Yoga upside down for us all. And seeing Katie Burn, Sylvia’s base, was also a perspective change as folks often imagine Acro teams have to be a man and a woman.
Katie herself was telling me how many people don’t realise that a very slight young woman can base for all the amazing moves they do, which are usually performed by strong men. She told us how much she enjoyed turning people’s perspectives upside down!
But whether or not Acro yoga is your thing (I’m going to share with you, I actually have a massive fear of flying Acro!!), it did make me see that often we mistake strength with courage and technique. So often in life we take a look at ourselves and we think, no, I couldn’t do that. But we don’t think that it’s only a matter of perfecting a technique. In life, precision, grit, and sheer determination can often trump the things that people see as ‘raw talents’.
When folks ask me how I managed to give up my very stable and well paid career as a lawyer for running a very risky start-up, they often very mistakenly think that I must have some talent, some unique gift for leadership or running a business. Which I can tell you I definitely don’t! I just have a lot of determination and a willingness to learn, improve and perfect a technique. Clearly, skills are continually being learnt and honed, but in life we often underestimate what we’re able to do and just with a little bit of courage, grit and technique, even those of us with none of the obvious talents, can get there!
This week we have a Part 2 in our series on perfecting your technique, strength and courage for arm balances with our favourite feisty and brave teacher, Kristi Johnson. All of that focus will require Mindfulness, which Toby Ouvry will help with. And Dr Yogi brings new perspectives to a famous pose in his Down Dog Tutorial.
So go turn your world upside down this week, change your perspective and open your eyes to the possibility all around you!
Kat Farrants by Karen Yeomans
This article was written on 3 April 2016 by Movement for Modern Life’s fabulous founder, Kat Farrants.
Leave a Reply