A few years ago, I did a crazy thing: I held the yoga pose ‘horse’ for 70 minutes. That’s right. One hour and ten minutes.
There was a lot of craziness in that situation:
I did it during a friendly yoga competition. Competition and yoga don’t belong in the same sentence, let alone the same practice. Crazy.
The prize was for a Manduka yoga mat. I didn’t need or want a yoga mat – I already had four mats at home. Crazy!
But here’s the really crazy thing: When the contest started and the pose announced, I groaned. The yoga teacher mentioned that the previous year’s record had been 28 minutes.
Here’s what I thought: “I hate that pose. I can’t even hold it for five minutes!”
Right there in that moment, I defined my edge. I had about five minutes holding a strenuous, quadriceps-burning pose. I surely wouldn’t win.
Before I go on with the story, what about you? When and how do you define your edge?
When considering the book you’re writing, what edge do you draw in your mind?
Back to the yoga story. It gets crazier.
Now, I’m strong-ish. Not athlete strong, but I do practice yoga a lot and ride my bike all the time. Still, my mind told me that I couldn’t do this.
But the evidence started piling up against my belief. We’d started with about 30 people. Soon most of them peeled off and we were down to a handful of ‘competitors’.
After 35 minutes the organizers started to get tough, raising the stakes. We were told to lift our heels and keep them lifted. Which meant holding this pose on our toes.
Okay, the four remaining crazy-yoginis took that in stride. Then they called in the tattooed, drill sergeant kind of yoga teacher. He put us through various paces. We hopped back and forth, dipped our upper bodies up and down. Yet we’re still holding this crazy pose.
Frankly, I didn’t even know why I was doing it. But I knew the longer I stood there, the more determined I was to not surrender.
Later, as I pedaled home on noodles for legs, I realized that my edge is way further than my mind thought.
Now I know this without a doubt: I am capable of WAY more than I knew possible.
And because I believe we’re all in this together, I believe YOU are capable of way more than your mind thinks.
Finally, with the spring night falling and patience all around waning, the teachers called the contest, surrendering for the three of us remaining fools who refused to surrender. Instead of awarding two yoga mats, they gave each of us one.
We are extraordinarily resilient, all of us. Yet we fool ourselves into believing that our edges are closer than we think. That we are weaker than we think.
My work as a coach is not to push you in ridiculous ways, but to remind you that you are more, can do and be more than you think. Not as a push into overdrive or straining, but as a way to access and express the infinite potential inside each of us.
But language like that can be vague and cliché. It’s our lived experiences that remind us our capacity is often way, way greater than we think.
What’s your (perceived) and (real) edge?
Consider your own edge-pushing experiences. Times as a parent when you held your patience in the face of a screaming infant. Times as an employee or student when you over-delivered on a project or task.
Borrow from your life experiences to contribute to your power as an emerging author. When you come to your edge with your subject matter and mental fog rises up to threaten your focus and commitment, know that you have it in you to keep going. Not to force yourself, but to stay with the book until it’s done.
I wrote sixteen drafts of Chasing Sylvia Beach in the face of at least triple that number in rejections. I never would have known I had it in me to keep going, to keep improving, to keep growing myself against my edge of what’s possible.
I’m not any more badass than any of you. Seriously. I, too, want to abandon difficult things and go for the low-hanging fruit. But I’ve become addicted to the thrill of overcoming challenges and shooting for the impossible.
Your edges will look and feel different than mine. But know them, and push past them.
What edges can you push past this week?
This TOTALLY rocks. Cynthia you are an absolute inspiration and I cannot tell you how timely this is for me.
I’m going to spend 70 minutes this weekend doing a mental horse pose and really, really, really thinking about what I am going to do about my unpublished book!
Wish me luck!
Jx
Thanks, Jenny! I am glad this inspired you!
Luckily for you, there are a lot of COOL things you can do with your book!
You do have luck and you have my support from over here in Denver!
I quit my cushy corporate job to start my wellness coaching biz. Gosh it’s been hard–I’ve been to places I never thought I would go pushing the edge even farther than I could have imagined–trying to bring to life the vision I have in my head and heart. Thank you for being open and taking us to the edge of your horse pose–inspiring!!
You’re an inspiration Cynthia. That’s the ultimate lesson in life, or in marathoning, or birthing anything beautiful or worthwhile: What Walt Disney called Stick-to-it-ivity.
We do it because we don’t know any better, or maybe that we refuse to live in a world devoid of our unmanifested vision.
And wow, you’re just getting started and look how far you’ve come!
Maddest love and props on a phenomenal month ahead.
kc
Thanks, Kristoffer!
I always knew that persistence is key to success for writers. That’s true for business owners, too. All of us!
I just love how I surprised myself and how we all have the capacity to exceed our known capabilities.
Lovely story. Very inspiring.
I resist pushing… being pushed. It’s part of my historic structure that for now, defeats me. I have come to believe that the motivation to stay with something difficult is sourced differently for different people. For me… I simply lose focus and forget… get distracted by more pressing matters, or by another titilating idea. Initiating is easier than staying with. To stay with something for me requires a focus and a remembering, continually, of what I care deeply about. The bigger commitment to what matters will, if I can only REMEMBER it, hold me in the posture… whether it’s a yoga pose, or a stand for what my life is about.
Thanks, Terry!
You are absolutely right – everyone’s motivation and meaning will be unique to them. And it is the biggest challenge to keep that present while we’re slogging away at something.
That’s one thing I love about my coaching work. I get to ask my clients what’s important about what they’re trying to do. I never assume it’s the same reason I do my projects. Then I get to keep them aligned with that, or keep them coming back to that.
Most of the creative people I work with have the same issue you mentioned – love affair with the beginning and a hate affair with finishing. I think the more things we complete, the easier it gets to trust ourselves that we CAN finish something. And we see and feel and reap the benefits on the other side of the finishing line.
So it can be done, a gentle re-training, so we can feel the satisfaction that comes from completing the creative process.
DEFINITELY keep present your stand for your life – that’s a big one!
Yup Cynthia!
Self-imposed limits. I hate ’em.
Something I remind myself often is “1+1=3”, which makes no sense, except that in my head, I hold this to be true simply because I make the rules, no one else. Helps me remember, the only limits we experience are the ones we impose on our selves.
Thank you for clarifying your edge! Love.
Christopher,
Whatever works! I love how you have a simple mantra that brings you front and center to what’s important to you.
Love to our edges and to the things that help us dissolve them!
Your timing is impeccable! After a tough day yesterday, this fun story was a perfect way to start fresh and continue to push my edge. There are many self-imposed limits I am familiar with…physical, emotional, professional – HA – and they’re just an illusion! There are no limits. Today I will stretch and reach for that golden yoga mat – figuratively speaking. There are no edges!
LOVE your blog – thanks for the shot in the arm!
Thanks, Michelle! I love thinking that I have impeccable timing!
I love this story because it showed me how we can surprise ourselves. Shock ourselves out of our normal complacency or grooves.
I have a friend who frequently calls me out on my limiting beliefs and language. I so appreciate her because I often can’t hear or see my barriers. Yoga helps me to physically challenge what I know and feel.
SO glad you love my blog. I put a lot into it so it’s of use and I am glad to hear that it hits its mark with you!
Cynthia – this was an awesome post. And, a message I needed to hear. I know my edge is much further away than I ‘pretend’. And, nothing like doing something you think impossible to prove it. So, I’m going to push my edge…wayyyy further than I have been lately. Thanks for the reminder & the coaxing.
Yay Karen! I love the thought of you pushing your edge.
This is really at the heart of why I coach people. I believe we’re all amazing and capable of incredible things. You’re already at a great edge with your business and you’re helping us push our edges!
You are welcome, and thank you for reading and commenting!
I needed to read this Cynthia. Thank you.
you are inspiring.
SO glad, Julie! Thanks for calling me inspiring!
Write on.