I collect quotes that inspire me and write them down in little notebooks. Then occasionally, as I did this morning, I’ll read through one of them. Though I don’t always write down the date of when I recorded every quote, each little notebook that I’ve filled represents a particular time in my journey of faith. 

This morning, while reading through a notebook dated 2009, this particular entry resonated with me “In order to move into an impossible pose, you have to move through the poses that are possible.” Although I’d failed to write down from whom these words came, I can guess that they came from one of my yoga instructors. 

      From Impossible to Possible

I was in the midst of training for a triathlon when someone first suggested practicing yoga in order to keep myself limber as well as focused. Going to my first class, I sat on my mat and discreetly looked around at all the other yogis. There was every shape and sized body, men as well as women, and young as well as gray headed. Though I felt awkward, vulnerable and unsure of myself, I did not get up and run out of the room. Instead, I committed myself to staying for that one class and moving through the poses as best I could. During as well as afterward, I felt the internal goodness of those poses and then went as often as possible to yoga. Though I no longer participate in triathlons, I still practice yoga. 

Beginning anything new often makes us feel we are treading beyond what we know and what we know as safe. And we are. When I walked into that first yoga class I had no idea what to expect from myself. Could I do the poses? Not all of them. Did I try? Almost too much. I remember the teacher’s gentle words that felt directed toward me, “Yoga is not a competitive sport.”  

Who knew I’d eventually become an instructor? Though it was not my initial intent, the practice of yoga became natural for me and benefited me more than I’d imagined it could. 

Now, for the last six years, I’ve been teaching yoga. What seemed inconceivable in the past, has presently become conceivable. 

How is it that the unimaginable becomes the imaginable? How do we move from our self imposed and limited bounds into a new reality? I can only say that from personal experience, it is a matter of first doing what is possible. What is in front of me that is presently feasible, reasonable, workable and achievable? What is the next step that I can take and then the next one and the next one? I am convinced that new possibilities begin with the next small step we make.

Why bother doing the possible? The impossible begins by moving through whatever is presently possible.