My Competitive Spirit Meets Yoga
Fran Harris
I just finished yoga and I’m pumped. I know that sounds contradictory, but work with me. Yoga energizes me because it challenges me to let all those silly distractions fall away. I forget about who’s emailed or texted me in the last 30 seconds. I don’t wonder if my tweets are going out as scheduled. I’m just able to be. For those 45, okay, 35 minutes, I’m just being. I’m just me.
I was introduced to Yoga over a decade ago but I didn’t start “practicing” until 5 years ago. And almost instantly my life, relationships and outlook changed. I had an amazing instructor who assured me that just because I couldn’t touch my toes that I was not going to be cast into the Yoga Hall of Shame.
Yoga was such a departure in philosophy for me. You see, I’m a competitive athlete. I’ve played basketball at the highest levels — WNBA Champion, NCAA Champion, USA National Team, Olympic Alternate and professional stints in Italy & Switzerland. We’re conditioned to be these elite machines that never show any vulnerability, lest the “enemy” swoop in and crush us. How funny that I’ve never really bought into that. Maybe if I had I would have been a better basketball player.
And perhaps that’s why Yoga was like a water fountain in the desert for me. Something inside me — ever since I was 5 or 6 year old — has always longed for something deeper. Something way beyond the outer. I believe Yoga nurtures that place inside all of us that craves stillness and acceptance. And for some reason, when I finish practicing Yoga, I actually feel like I could run a marathon.
I don’t, of course, I’ll never do that again (a story, I’ll share later) but for now, suffice it to say that finding my inner Yogi has been the most amazing part of my journey to date. I don’t know exactly why, but I do know that Yoga has facilitated an opening in me that’s made a difference in every area of my life.
And miraculously I’ve discovered that my outer achievement comes effortlessly when I go inward to my true, highest self. It’s incredible what happens when you don’t care who’s right, who gets the credit or who gets recognized. A philosophy not nurtured in competitive sports, believe me.
So, I moved from sports to another competitive arena: TV. And I have to say that nothing is funnier than the television business. The shouting matches between producers. The ego-centric rants of managers and agents. The morbid insecurity of on-air talent.
I used to wish that I’d done things differently in my TV career. That I’d started earlier or moved to New York or fired my first agent sooner. But I have to say that as I assess where I am and who I am today, that I’m glad I did exactly as I did.
Now, I can’t say that about everything in my life. But with regard to my TV career, I’m sure of it. I don’t get bothered by the same things. I don’t see the business the same. And that feels right for me. I now know that TV is my vehicle for service. All I have to do is “be who I am”, with the blessed assurance that as long as I sing MY song and stay in MY lane, the adventure, the excursion will be one helluva ride.
It already has been.
Fran Harris, America’s No Excuses Coach has been inspiring individuals, teams and companies to lead bigger lives since she was 12 years old. A life and business coach who’s appeared on CNBC, CNN, FOX Business & Oprah & friends, she’s also the host of a new lifestyle show on HGTV that premiers in 2010.
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5 Comments
Fran, congrats on centering within yourself thru your yoga practice. I think this centeredness is key in many aspects of Life & certainly very important to bringing forth the fullness of who you are. When we really get into the judging, the competing, we can be more “out there” than “in here”. It’s as if the power of the collective becomes more dominant than who we are inside. Of course, there are times when these things are important, but when they come at the expense of who we are, then we can become lost and/or uncentered.
Beautiful Post. Doing YOU is the best way to live.. it is so honest and give you freedom to create in the direction that is YOU. Living in the flow and glow of the divine spark. Congradulations on all your beauty and accomplishments. I cannot wait to read what you have to say next. Callie
Hi,
Yoga is beneficial for the health in ways that modern science is just beginning to understand. Even though it has beenapplied with therapeutic intention for thousand of years, Yoga Therapy is only just now emerging as a discipline initself.
More health care practitioners are starting to include yogic techniques in their approach to healing — andmore yoga teachers give a therapeutic intention to their teaching. People who have never tried yoga before are startingto consider including Yoga in their treatment plan.
As science begins to document the importance of understanding the interrelation of all existing things, it looks to Yogawith an intrigued eye, for Yoga speaks Unity in every word. As yoga techniques are researched and new data is gathered,it becomes easier for science and the medical establishment to understand and accept the benefits of Yoga Therapy.Yet there is still not one consensual definition of the discipline.
In order to arrive to an adequate definition and tocome up with proper standards for Yoga Therapy, it is crucial at this early stage to properly address some delicateprofessional and ethical issues. At the same time it is important to educatethegeneralpublic about Yoga Therapy’sbenefits and careful use.
so this article will really helpful to me..
Yoga is a way of life, a conscious act, not a set or series of learning principles. The dexterity, grace, and poise you cultivate, as a matter of course, is the natural outcome of regular practice. You require no major effort. In fact trying hard will turn your practices into a humdrum, painful, even injurious routine and will eventually slow down your progress. Subsequently, and interestingly, the therapeutic effect of Yoga is the direct result of involving the mind totally in inspiring (breathing) the body to awaken. Yoga is probably the only form of physical activity that massages each and every one of the body’s glands and organs. This includes the prostate, a gland that seldom, if ever, gets externally stimulated in one’s whole life.
Meditation Techniques Yoga
What a great post, Fran! I too am extremely competitive and am currently in the process (forced by injury, this time) of re-training myself to work with my body (and mind) instead of against it. That’s undoing years of self-abuse and re-working everything I’ve ever thought about my body and the way I use it. But this isn’t the first time – since I was dx’d with cancer at a relatively young age – I know that sometimes a complete paradigm-shift ultimately can do a person so much good. I wish you all the best!
October 28, 2009