learning from a coconut.
A cold and dreary Monday evening. I had just finished teaching my second class of the day and was roaming the aisles of the grocery store when my eye fell upon a gorgeous young coconut - on sale, no less! I immediately felt nostalgic for California, for the memory of sucking on a straw sticking out of a fresh coconut and sporting sun-kissed skin, practicing yoga outside and feeling so free. Just what I need today, I thought to myself. Cradling a coconut in my arms, I trundled home and immediately found myself faced with the immense challenge of actually getting the coconut open.
I selected a small knife and attempted to pierce the coconut from above. No luck. I grabbed a bigger knife and tried a vicious hacking motion instead, which not only failed miserably but also proved, without a doubt, that I am no coconut-opening ninja. A cursory Google search (“how to open a young coconut”) rendered itself entirely unhelpful (what would a vegetarian be doing with a meat cleaver?), but I was determined not to let my precious coconut go to waste like the great avocado incident of 2010, and I finally managed to poke the tiniest hole through the coconut’s hard outer shell. Turning it upside-down over a cup, I watched sadly as one small drop emerged - just a drop! Yet, one drop turned into two, which quickly turned into three, and within five minutes my glass was nearly full of sweet, delicious coconut water.
Alas, the Universe had conspired to teach me another lesson. Patience really is a virtue. Slow and steady really does win the race. But how often do we forget this fact? Rather than doing strong core work every day and taking time to open our hamstrings, we want to be able to jump into handstand and do full splits as soon as we start practicing yoga (guilty as charged). We want our families, our friends, our partners to be perfect for us, without having the dedication to cheer even the smallest victories in our quest toward cultivating honest, harmonious relationships. In yoga, as in life, we slowly but surely accumulate all the benefits of our practice and our commitment. We put in our effort, and then we let go. And sometimes, the best thing we can do for ourselves is to tap in and simply watch how - single drop by single drop - our hard work is rewarded.
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