It takes a little awareness for us all to get to know the rigidity of our minds and emotions, especially in a busy, online modern world.
A rigid person is typically identified as one whose rigidity in thought and action makes them believe they are perfect, or perfectly imperfect, or caught in the trap of a complex life through which they have to ride the wave. This is because they simply don’t want to look at any other way of looking, thinking or feeling – can’t see that the wave is part of a vast ocean for us to explore.
Generally perfectionists behave this way too and because of this, even the simplest of yoga practices may have a profound effect on those who have a closed mind. Releasing that energy can be quite transformational.
Yoga is a practice that is not just about making people more flexible in the body…it’s also about opening up the mind. In fact they aren’t separate from each other – they are fully interconnected, meaning that rigid energy that flows through the mind will also flow into the body.
Yoga doesn’t consider gender, pay packet, personality, the latest fashion or colour. It is about guiding each individual being to bend in a certain way, to breathe and to be present in their own body. If you are willing to open yourself up to bending (sometimes the hardest challenge – starting!), you have already broken one karma….or bond with your body and mind – that of being rigid.
Age is one thing that manifests rigidity. You could do a handstand and touch your toes when you were 10 right? And now…..? Is your body more rigid? When you were 6 you played, imagined and daydreamed? What about now? Family commitments, work and responsibilities are all consuming? Most people don’t even notice this continual regression….mind and body.
Yoga teaches us to leave our ego at the door, channel our creative, strong and intuitive energy and that the complexities in our life are not because of the path we have chosen but because we choose to see them as complexities!