Change your strategy, not you
By Nancy B. Loughlin
Published in News Press on December 20, 2016
Heather Holland of Ruby and Pearls Yoga, Fort Myers, demonstrates Warrior II.
Sometimes, you just can’t get people on board with your plans.
You have big ideas for a business, a campaign, a book, a revolution.
People haven’t joined your bandwagon. Perhaps you are too aggressive, elitist or arrogant. Maybe they think their ideas are better. They are jealous or just simply apathetic. It’s your language, your posture, your tone.
No, nothing is wrong with your ideas or plans, but you might want to change your strategy.
Changing your strategy is not the same as changing who you are or what you want to accomplish. You need to figure out a way to meet people where they are without compromising who you are.
Only you can figure out how to do that.
Make Your Move Meditation
Establish your position.
From Mountain Pose, step your left foot way back, and prepare for Warrior II. That foot should be at a 45-degree angle. Align your heels.
Bend into a deep 90-degree angle with your front knee, and keep that knee in alignment with your ankle. Let the structured architecture of your plan, the foundation of what you want, hold you upright. This will not change.
Lift your arms to warrior position, parallel to the ground and sky. As you reach your right fingertips forward, take direct aim at your goal.
This is the time to push.
Stretch your arms in opposite directions, and feel the movement originating in your heart center. Press both feet into the ground and away from each other.
Heather Holland restrategizes with a transition to Side Angle Pose.
Now, strategize with a transition to Extended Side Angle Pose. Temporarily drop your right elbow to your front thigh, and relax your forearm.
Pump your body with prana by activating your ujjayi breathing. Constrict your airways and pull in the breath with the strength of your throat muscles. You’ll hear the sound of the ocean.
Twist your top shoulder open, and expose your heart to the left side of the room. Stretch your arm overhead, alongside your ear. There will be a straight line from your back foot, along the left side of your body, to your fingertips.
Look around. Listen. Feel the air, your clothes, against your body. Be open to all signals. Observe and breathe, a perfect vessel, for ten breaths.
This is the moment to yield and surrender. Your legs maintain the integrity of your vision. Let the up body, the arms of action, the heart of receiving, the intellect and intuition be malleable and receptive to new ideas.
Return to Warrior II, and, in a single step, assume mountain pose. Repeat the sequence on the other side.
When you’re ready, step off the mat and make your move.
