From Good to Great

Are you a hedgehog or a fox?

What does the business book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, which examines why some companies make the leap from good to great and others do not, have to do with yoga or you? Well, you know by now I find yoga everywhere, even in the most inconspicuous of hiding places. Turns out those concepts which make for good business are similar to the philosophical themes and alignment principles we visit on our mats each week.

Take, for instance, the Hedgehog concept, with roots in a Greek myth about the hedgehog and the fox. The fox knows many things, is cunning, able to devise a myriad of sneak attacks on the hedgehog, whereas the hedgehog knows one big thing. And you guessed it, the hedgehog always wins! When the fox thinks he’s found a way to pounce, the hedgehog responds the same way time and again—he rolls into a ball, and extends his spikes to successfully ward off the fox.

The gist of the hedgehog concept is that no matter how complex, it’s mastered the ability to reduce all challenges and dilemmas to a simplistic idea, a single organizing concept, or basic principle that unifies and guides everything. Think, Einstein’s theory of relativity E= MC2, where the simplicity is born of deep understanding and complexity. Or, per the authors, Wells Fargo's move from a disperse Citicorp wanna-be to one of the best performing banks in the world (as of 2001).

On our mats, the Anusara style of yoga does much the same. It boils things down to five principles of alignment, so no matter the pose, no matter our ability to master its full expression, we apply the same principles again and again, and it too works.

Set the foundation and Open
Muscular Energy
Inner Spiral
Outer Spiral
Organic expansion

The author (who I now suspect is a yogi too) suggests that these brilliantly simple hedgehog-like business concepts flow from the intersection of:

1. What you can be best in the world at (and equally important what you cannot be the best at)?

Likewise your yoga practice is an invitation to get really good at being an authentic version of you with a deep understanding of your gifts, choosing honest alignment and application of the five principles first over grasping for the external ideal of a pose.

2. What drives your economic engine?

There are three energetic focal points—the pelvis, bottom of the heart, or upper palate—one of which will be the key place of power for any asana. Knowing what focal point fuels an asana helps us expand and experience its full value.

3. What are you deeply passionate about?

Yoga has all types of tools (asana, meditation, pranayama, mantra) to help you do the hard work to discover what you truly desire, so you too can make what you love what you do.

This hedgehog concept is an iterative process not an event. Einstein groped through the fog to uncover the theory of relativity. Businesses who want to move from Good to Great are encouraged to do the same, constantly revisiting the three questions above, until clarity reveals itself.

It’s no different on our mats, and I think the reason we come back time and again. In a smilar way, yoga's long and storied history of trying to make sense of our experiences, created a mala theory, where malas are like dust covering the mirrors of our heart. The dust doesn’t taint or alter the perfect clarity of the mirror, but rather covers it up, and so too a consistent yoga practice can help clear away the haze.

So, this week we practiced being a hedgehog!
• Relentlessly applied the five alignment principles
• Leveraged the focal points to expand our asanas
• Reflected on what were are really (really) good at
• Asked ourselves what it is that we truly desire

Note: As our foxy ways revealed themselves in handstand, you pointed out that the fox may be getting a little bit of bad wrap. Probably right, maybe a theme for another class!

In closing…

Hedgehogs are simple dowdy creatures that are brilliant in their unwavering commitment to know one big thing, the thing that they can do best. In the same way, we come to our mats time and again, and work just five principles of alignment, and instead of monotony, always seem to find there is more.

The Hedgehog concept reminded me that so often I or I see others seeking something outside, something new, different, “foxy”, wanting the cutting edge angle, until…it wears off. At the risk of sounding like a “bumper sticker”, it may be just this simple: whether a business or an individual, what you’re seeking is already inside.

It’s what only you can be best at

It’s what you’re passionate about

That moves you from Good to Great.

To uncovering our gifts and passion, making decisions relentlessly consistent with them and ultimately moving from Good to Great both on and off our mats, Namaste!

Valentine’s Day: Believing when not seeing

Svatantrya: self looming or weaving as in the tapestry of life.

Each February I dedicate a yoga class theme to a matter of the heart— strokes – a brain attack due to interruption of blood flow. Why not true love, cupid and soul mates? Too obvious, (I know some of you will be nodding yes : ) but also because a few years ago now, my Dad, a seemingly healthy man in his mid 50s, suffered a stroke on of all days, the day of the heart, Valentine’s Day.

So, why annually revisit such a traumatic event? Well because his recovery is the story I hold close when I lose trust in believing without seeing. My reflections remind me that radical transformation is possible. I’ve seen it. This story is the “you can do it” which checkmates my doubts that simply doing my best to be an authentic version of “me” will result in progress even when I don't see the change(at times year after year after year...after year...).

All stories need to introduce the main character. My Dad, plain and simple, owns his seat (asana). Regardless of outside influences, however astonishing or heartbreaking, he knows who he is at his core, selflessly shares his gifts (madhurya) and demonstrates an unwavering desire to do what is right. His creative resourcefulness is awe inspiring, and the results a reminder that art is not limited to what you find in a theatre or a museum. Just check out the before and after shots of a dilapidated home he has painstakingly restored or watch him McGyver a problem with ease, like getting an inoperable piece of household machinery going with some string, a safety pin and bubble gum.

It’s no surprise soon after his stroke, while he could no longer find the word for elbow or comprehend a phone number, his instincts said let’s get back to being “me” and start fixing this. And he did. We tried to help. We sat with him through 3rd grade phonics and lame video games, but he knew better. He needed to move, to get back to the type of work he knew best, even if that meant climbing on a roof to make a complex repair, while still unable to speak well.

While I suspect it may not have always felt like this to him, from my vantage point, I watched someone show up each day, no questions, no blame, no why me (ever)…facing the uncertainty of the future, stakes high, not knowing what it would hold, just doing what he could to accept his circumstances, be himself through the process and move on. Now that’s believing without seeing.

Our ability to heal never ceases to amaze me. In the case of stroke, the healing can consist of the restoration of pathways which re-reveal years of knowledge—memories, vocabulary, math—seemingly erased, yet latent and unseen all along. Similarly, on our mats, it’s often hard to believe showing up and doing the best darn chaturaunga (low push up) with head of the arm bones back will build the strength required to one day accomplish pincha mayruarsana padmasana (fore arm balance in lotus). But it does. Or that the power of our hearts and our capacity to love is always there—always—even though it may lay buried beneath layers of disappointment, fear, and in a smattering of broken pieces.

I admit around the holidays of that year I had settled into the idea that my Dad would always need a notebook to remember conversations, stutter as he searched for common words, ask my mom to read his menu or struggle to dial the phone because the numbers would get mixed up travelling the matrix of his mind. Likewise, I’ve given up on an asana or two (urdhva “d” (wheel) drop back and then back up to stand), lost trust in myself, or more often than I’d like to admit let the disappointments of life cloak my willingness to risk exposing my heart.

I did not see the connections being made and doubted healing was possible. Now that’s seeing what I believe.

Then – shazzam, shift happens! I will never forget a random phone call from my Dad in April of the following year. Something had unfolded. Our conversation was lucid and I was talking to someone seemingly lost a year or so ago! Critical links had been made and pathways had been restored. What appeared as rapid transformation was anything but. This progress had been in the works for a long time, I just didn't see it. Similarly, I'm reminded of those latch hook rugs my sister and I crafted as kids. Looming and weaving, spending days on one part—the intricate blades of grass—so much so that we lost sight of the bigger picture—the grand lioness presiding over her forest—which only unfolded when we hooked the last few pieces of yarn into place.

Most of us (knock on wood now!) will only know the symptoms of stroke as an allegory for blockages which restrict that looming flow of energy, the svatantrya, and reveal themselves during times when we find ourselves:
• Numb
• Confused, problems speaking
• Trouble seeing clearly
• Losing our balance
• Painful Headache that comes on suddenly for unknown reason
• Unable to smile, raise both arms, or stick tounge out straight

Now if these symptoms are physical, please dial 911 ASAP! If a stroke is caught within three hours, there are medical advances which can reverse the affects (that’s the public service announcement worth repeating year after year). But if more likely your reference point is symbolic, then I recommend you find your way to your mat, and pull out one of the many technologies in your yoga tool kit, tools that help us: know our seat (meditation), get things moving (pranayama), clear out the fog (mantra), or reopen pathways (asana).

Svatantrya means to loom or to weave freely, not knowing how the pattern will unfold, yet trusting connections are being made. That’s the yoga – the yoking – the making of connections. The invitation is that you own your seat (asana) and steadfastly exploit being you, throughout the process.

Each year my hope is that by sharing this story you are reminded of your own story of affirmation – when you’ve seen the "pop", connections which had been looming and weaving below the surface suddenly manifest themselves. Perhaps it was a yoga asana you never though you could master, simply planting seeds and watching them blossom in the spring, or a much more personal matter of the heart. Whatever it is, however big or small, my wish is that you too now hold it close whenever you need to trust in believing without seeing.

LODO – Lights On Doors Open

“One cannot always tell what it is that keeps us shut in, confines us, seems to bury us, but still one feels certain barriers, certain gates, certain walls. Is all this imagination, fantasy? I do not think so. And then one asks: My God! Is it for long, is it forever, is it for eternity? Do you know what frees one from this captivity? It is very deep serious affection. Being friends, being brothers, love, that is what opens the prison by supreme power, by some magic force” – Vincent Van Gogh

Sometimes the Universe keeps on speaking to us through others until we answer. This past week I was asked, “Why do you teach yoga?” so often it made me pause and rethink my light hearted standard response…it’s fun, love seeing people light up when they get an asana.

One of the many things I’ve come to appreciate about yoga is that it is always extending yet another invitation to more (and more and more…) questions. Think Russian nesting dolls, or clown car. Sometimes it throws hard balls: What do you truly desire? And the dreaded follow up, is what you do aligned with what you desire? Other times (thankfully) it lobs soft balls: Is she for real when she says moving your thumbs back/down and pinky fingers up in warrior I somehow puffs up your back kidney area?

When we choose to answer (vs blow off) these questions, it’s a game changer—moving our practice from Simon says, monkey see monkey do toward a more playful inquisitive experiment.

And it’s not always about getting the right answer (whew!) It’s also about asking ever better questions, continuously revisiting them, proving to yourself time and again where you stand.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense. – Buddha

So I accepted the invitation to revisit, “Why do you teach yoga?” After some thought, my response was LODO— Lights On Doors Open—an acronym for a financial term we use in Corporate America referring to the baseline cost of keeping operations up and running.

Simply put I teach public classes with the heartfelt intent to keep the Lights On and Doors Open in an unraveling world which I’ve seen all too often dims (turns off) our lights and shuts (slams) our doors.

On our mats this week we practiced asking better questions and creating space in our asanas. To open the walls, we applied inner spiral (moving your butt back) and kidney loop (sides of the waist back) to hip openers and back bends all the while asking why? why? why? E.g. Why move the thighs back, other than I suggested it was a good idea?

We also touched on an esoteric concept introduced by Paul Muller-Ortega, renowned scholar of Hindu Tantra, at a recent workshop. He talked about a shutter or aperture like muscle, inside all of us, that is a gateway to the always present light. Through meditation this internal muscle can open/flip in a way that you experience pure consciousness. Some of us naturally have more control over it's pulsation than others, similar to how some of us can wiggle our ears while others cannot.

Sidebar: an uncanny number of you can wiggle you ears while doing cobra (bhujangasana)!

Regardless of natural talent, all of us can practice conditioning this muscle. The process is not all that different than maintaining our physical bodies through asana. The unconscious routines of life create veils which contract the energy and stop the shutter from working. Meditation, mantra or deep serious affection can dialate the aperature allowing us to connect with our ephemeral double, that subtle body of light and energy which animates us and is pure, perfect, and independent of our physical age. Being disconnected from this subtle aspect of ourselves is so often what makes us feel confined, trapped, dark.

In closing…

My wish for you as we left our mats is that you too accept the invitation to engage the questions allowing your answers to simmer deepen and refine themselves as you change and evolve over time. So again I responded to the question, “Why do you teach yoga?”

I teach to hold space in my heart for

……those whose light was self extinguished or forever occluded by illness

I teach for me

……because your reflections keep my lights on

I teach for you

……knowing first hand that this practice will keep the doors from closing in

I teach with hope

……that something as simple as yoga enables you keep the lights on and doors open for others

To asking ever better questions on and off our mats, and a practice that blows the doors off, and amplifies the light, Namaste!

P.S. Paul's site is www.bluethroatyoga.com