Resistance to Change
Change challenges us on a deep level.
Humans are hard-wired to react with some amount of fear to changes in our environment: the fight-or-flight part of our nervous system keeps us safe by staying alert to these changes, allowing us to react quickly when danger appears.
Even when we choose and want change, there’s still a primal part of us that often reacts with resistance and shut-down against the potential negative outcomes instead of opening to and embracing the potential positive experiences. We create an internal struggle with situations that are out of our control. Sometimes we self-sabotage, denying ourselves the change we crave because of an unaddressed, unconscious fear. When there’s undergoing a change in the course of our lives - be it a new career, moving, having a baby, or even getting a completely new haircut - we often grieve leaving the path that’s familiar and harbor fears around the new direction we’re taking. Even when we’re excited for change, many emotions, reactions, and resistances rise to the surface.
Yoga is a process of transformation.
The challenge of change brought about by the practice of yoga often inspires deep-rooted resistance: mental blocks, physical holding and bracing, movement and breathing patterns. We’re developing new awareness of our bodies, feeling out new movements, learning to release holding-patterns - all of which challenge us with unfamiliar experiences that are asking our bodies (and minds) to embrace change, to which that primal part of ourselves will unconsciously offer us resistance in the form of tightening, overworking, bracing - or even thoughts about how stupid this pose is!
One of the niyamas, or yogic observances, is santosha. Santosha is Sanskrit for contentment or acceptance - the practice of being present in the moment, without judgment or expectation. Santosha offers us a way to explore and release the resistance that arises when we’re in a the midst of a personal or life change; by recognizing the reality of our inner reaction, we can choose to accept both our reaction and the reality we’re reacting against.
This week, use your practice to observe resistance in your body and mind - like the moments when you bail from a pose because it starts to push resistance-buttons - and make the conscious choice to accept your experience of resistance. Look for the inner reaction that’s happening to trigger your resistance.
Notice moments in your daily life that provoke resistance and apply santosha to these changes: accepting your reaction and accepting the change, looking for ways to embrace the experience you’re in and transform it into something that propels you forward.
Have you noticed a link between your mental or emotional reactions and physical resistance in your body? Feel free to share in the comments!