TRUST

 

TRUST.

This week, I offered an intention to focus on TRUST during yoga.

This word, this mindful return to the solid, silent strength within us is so important.  It is so easy to lose sight of our inner knowledge and intuition.  I see it in myself.  I see it in others.

We are whizzing and whirling around in this world and sometimes have lost touch with trusting our SELVES.  Our body, our heart, our instincts.  We google what we should do instead of look within.  (We includes me).  We ask others within our circle what we should do (I’m not saying this is bad), when we really know within ourselves what is right for us. When we pause to really be truthful with ourselves, we already know what to do, how we think, our most basic answers within.

This is one of my favorite things of yoga practice- learning to trust ourselves- to not NEED to move a certain way, but to move in a way that is OURS.  To make it OUR bodies art, our arm lift, OUR stretch, our exhale, OUR pace. We trust our breath to be our energy, each breath to be as it is.  We trust our arms to rise on an inhale- maybe bent, straight, V shaped, U shaped, halfway up, bound at the top.  No need to make stories about how we lift our arms, it is our trust that it is right for us.  It is so simple, but for many, so novel and life changing.

I will be asking myself this weekend to “trust” myself in my marathon.  This is (I’m pretty sure) my 10^th.  But it has been over 25 years – my first was in 1997.  My focus has shifted from marathons to triathlons, triathlons of various distances, back to marathons, then to injury prevention, then triathlon, then covid, and… here I am with a marathon, and it feels new again.

Those of you who know me well, know I struggle with my …… head.  I often work against myself.  My tendency is to doubt and not be confident.  But, I know the importance of eliminating fear and anxiety by resting in trust.  If our fear is overwhelming us, we aren’t in a place of trust.

I am reminding myself that I trust my training.

I trust my ability to be calm and settled.

I trust myself to lean on my training that has been all that it has needed to be, I have done all the work of preparing as I have asked myself.  I am ready, despite some flutterings of unsettled feelings inside. I trust the process that I’ve taken myself through.

I trust my ability to remain in trust through the hard times.  Each mile, when it gets hard, I don’t doubt that I can make it through.  One mile at a time if needed.  I do trust this.  Trust is this subtle heart sense, but also a firm foundation of solid strength in trust.  If you trust, you don’t need to ask any questions.  I know I can rely on myself.

I am not saying the marathon is simply a matter of trust- there is a lot that can happen on race day.  Sometimes, the legs don’t arrive feeling good or “on”, or it is just a harder day.  It is not as if you reach your goals merely on a whim of “trusting yourself.”  However, that sure is part of the process.  Your physical training can take you to a certain level, and then it needs to be matched with believing in yourself, believing in your ability to take a chance on yourself, to risk the goal you are aiming for.  To risk trusting the character that you are made of, the strength within to rally, rise and not give up on yourself.

We need to trust ourselves to do big things.