evolve

we are often so much more capable than we think we are.  i see it in class all the time.  sometimes it is a posture the student has never done, they enter timidly, cautiously looking around to the others to see if they are doing it right, and then they simply settle in.  usually it only takes a verbal encouragement or a guiding touch which both really contain the key element which is an energetic transference of knowing what is possible.  then they are in, much further than they imagined themselves capable of.  sometimes it is something they are in familiar with, something they have been practicing for a while and they return always to the same place, the place that was their deepest experience when they began.  not realizing they themselves have changed and the pose now is accessible.  this is a beautiful gift of the ashtanga practice.  the practice itself does not change, so we have the opportunity to measure our growth against the constancy of the method.  we must always remember that we will only go as far as we venture, constantly push the limit of what you think you know.  on and off the mat.  we are seekers by nature - so seek within, go deeper.  don't assume to know yourself or that the self won't change.  every day, every posture, every relationship, every breath ask yourself if you can do more, do differently, learn something, evolve.