It all started with a face plant. Literally. For one brief and glorious moment, my knees rested above my elbows while my palms supported the weight of my entire crouched body. Then, I wobbled and toppled onto my chin and onto the floor.
And I couldn’t help but smile. I just fell out of crow pose, a pose I thought I’d never be able to do because I’m not good a balancing. I may have only held it for a fraction of a second, but in that tiny speck of time I did something I thought was impossible for me. And I did it after making a radical and counterintuitive change: I was gentle.
Like so many of us, I believed that the best way to live was to set ambitious goals, follow punishing daily routines, and then berate myself for the shortcomings that inevitably followed. I may have gotten some things accomplished, but it wasn’t much fun. Then, in the spring of 2020, I tried something different. Feeling unmoored and isolated (the pandemic, remember?), I searched for something that would make life less dark, less angry, less hopeless. I don’t know why the word gentleness floated into my consciousness, but it did.
So, after rubbing my chin and getting up off the floor, I wondered about other aspects of life. If being gentle in yoga not only made me happier in my practice, which it absolutely did, but also made me objectively more skillful, could being gentle improve other things?
So, I spent a year writing a weekly newsletter devoted to gentleness. I tested practices for helping me navigate everything from feelings of unworthiness to dealing with difficult people during the holidays. Could gentleness help with achieving goals? My harsh inner critic? Could it improve my relationships? Most importantly: Could living gently help me reconnect with my wiser, kinder and happier self?
Yes.
And I hope you’ll find that it can do the same for you.
I’m delighted you’re here on the path with me. Thank you for coming along.
