A Different Kind of Power (yoga)
Personal power is something we all want more of. The feeling of being powerful is incredibly energizing. It leads us to create exceptional opportunities in life and ultimately to make dreams come true. You know it well: that particular spark that sets a fire underneath you, lights you up and propels you toward your desires.
On the same token, you’ve probably experienced that flame being doused to oblivion. All of a sudden the dream looks infinitely far away, completely unreachable and you’ve lost faith in your ability to find and manifest it.
From where do we get this power? When it leaves us, where does it go? Is there hope for consistently finding it? Sustaining it? Can we make personal power a reliable undercurrent to the way we approach our work, relationships, practices, and life? Culturally, power is a highly enviable position… it means one has achieved, progressed, produced enough that one gets social recognition or fame, wealth, respect and presumably happiness (right??).
My proposition is that the kind of sustained power for which so many of us are reaching is a power that’s not contingent upon social positioning or owning desirable things. It’s not even contingent upon how many people agree on how powerful you are. To some, this may be disappointing…. but its implications are encouraging as it has everything to do with choice.
Personal power is deeply correlated with personal choice. The ability to choose for yourself, your highest good, your health, your joy - is one of the most powerful skills you can foster. Personal power is inseparable from the recognition of self worth. Knowing you’re worthy of life, love and happiness an awakening happens fostering an unwavering inner power. You are your own hero and your own beloved.
When we forget that we’re worthy of thriving and feel drained and powerless, what happens then? Most likely, in the moment just before your fire went out you were presented with a choice. It was a choice to attach to or release expectations. In that precious, delicate moment is a collapse to disappointment or a rise to curiosity. When success and happiness are placed in an unpredictable future outcome, SNATCH – that’s where your power goes. But when we decide to get curious about new possibilities, all outcomes are openings to choose again. The catch is: it’s sometimes easier to choose the rewards of being a victim to circumstance rather than to shrug it off, empower yourself with a deep breath and keep on keepin’ on.
Inner power is a fire we keep fanning with empowered choices and deeply owned sense of self-worth.