Where Do You Need To Be? By Louise Applebome

By Louise Applebome

“Where do you need to be?”

This question has at least 10,000 edges and its potential answers do, too.

It can be an existential inquiry. 

It can be specific to time and place or an upcoming appointment.

It can be grounded in a yoga class.

It can apply to every yoga pose and every moment and each nuance on the yoga mat…and off.

FOMO (the ubiquitous fear of missing out) is not the barometer from which to assess the question and answer. But so many of us seem to feel the pressure of this misguided concept. 

Really? 

Aren’t mature adults more discerning than that?

What others expect of you is also not automatically the criteria.

Nor are the mores of our times.

Of course, the times we are living in are constantly wired, 24/7. Everything and everybody are abuzz and pinging all day and all night. It’s not easy to break away from the nonstop digital barrage of din, spin, and chaos. It is easy and seductive to get caught up in all the external stimuli and to lose the connection to our own inner “devices.” The very nature and pace of existence in first-world twenty-first-century life challenges our ability to stop, look, and listen, and to ask and answer the question, “Where do you need to be right now?” with authenticity. 

This question can only be answered by traveling deeply within and paying attention to the cues coming from our own mind, body, and spirit, and nobody else’s.

Granted, in much of our lives, we are often and in large part beholden to others. 

And we don’t, by necessity, humanity and civility, come first. 

So there are a myriad of factors that come into play when we explore this question in the context of relationships, family, friends, work, responsibilities, or connections to a church, mosque, or synagogue. 

But on the yoga mat, each individual is the sole arbiter of their exploration.

What a gift!

The teacher is only there as a guide. 

On the yoga mat, it is incumbent upon each of us to ask and answer the question,

“Where do I need to be?” in the moment, in the imminent, rooted onto solid ground and earth. 

At the same time, each individual needs to empty out all the detritus…the baloney…the toxins…and sync up with the transcendent: that vast and infinite realm of possibility, peace, loving-kindness, and fairness…where hate, bias, racism, sexism, pathology, and misogyny do not exist. 

It is the other-worldly…the out of this world, the boundless spaciousness.

It is in the merging of the imminent and the transcendent that we are able to transparently ask and answer the question, “Where do you need to be?”

Most of us like to have a teacher to motivate us to practice yoga (or many other disciplines). It can be difficult to stick to a routine and to advance without one. But then the caveat is not to lose the “yoga” in the personal experience. The definition of yoga is yoking together all the unique and particular aspects of an individual to achieve harmony, balance, and equanimity. There is no formula for that. Whether it’s a matter of range of motion, qualifications, physical ability or limitations, energy level, what you ate for breakfast (ha ha ha), illness, injury or surgery…all these factors and so many more, are in play as one figures out what they need at any given moment during a yoga practice [and in life].

AI won’t work here.

Only the components that make up our human-ness can help us to discover “where we need to be.”

I know remote/virtual yoga may have its downsides (i.e. no physical touch and corrections by the instructor) but its greatest asset is providing the agency, autonomy, and freedom for the student to curate a practice based on their instincts, inclinations, insights, and ingenuity. 

It’s a breeding ground for curiosity and exploration.

Hallelujah!

In in-person group classes, it’s hard not to notice what other students are doing around you. In the competitive world we live in, it’s hard not to want to keep up or outdo. And, folks are generally inhibited about bucking the norm or deviating from the teacher’s directions. There need not be any of that reluctance, interference, or muddle doing yoga at home alone on Zoom or another virtual platform. 

Showing up is great. And I applaud all the millions of yogis of the world who do. But showing up because of FOMO and a desire to fit in only gets you in the door. 

And just going through the motions, like a robot or a puppet, isn’t really yoga. It may be good exercise; I won’t say it’s not beneficial. But, paying attention, and making adjustments as sensed and as needed is the key…on the mat.

I’d like to think there’s an important metaphorical lesson here that can also be applied to what is key in life. 

Finally, on the yoga mat…it *is* all about you.

Namasté.

Louise Applebome, 71, is a Certified Yoga Instructor in Dallas. After “retiring” from a vibrant and varied professional career, she became a yoga teacher. She teaches all her classes on Zoom right now and accepts students, young or older, from wherever they are, both geographically and in their pursuit of a yoga practice. Louise will help you stay fit and flexible, and release tension, aches & pains from the body…and the mind. Her yoga studio in Dallas is del norte yoga. You can reach out to her at [email protected].