A moment of intention and transformation. Glendalough, Ireland (By Sawrah)

A friend recently told me to “evolve or dissolve.” It hit home in a lot of ways, especially as we enter a new season.

There is a lot shifting in my life (and everyone else’s) and sometimes it can be hard to see where you are going and trust that you are moving in the “right” direction. This evolve or dissolve sentiment has been following me around all summer without me fully realizing it. Nowhere was it more present than during my ankle injury in mid-June. I stepped off a bad curb wrong and sprained my ankle, badly.

I didn’t know it then but this injury would drastically change my teaching. I figured I would take a few week hiatus and then get back to normal teaching. My ankle had other plans for me. It slowed me down in all areas of my life, not just teaching, and caused a massive reassessment of many areas of my life. Evolve or Dissolve. When I got back to teaching two weeks later, I was not fully healed and had to augment my style. I started to spend a lot more time off the mat since I couldn’t do as many poses. I like to flow from pose to pose but I couldn’t do that either, so I slowed down and had students spend more time in each posture, getting to the root and alignment of each posture. I had trouble sitting for meditation because of the way my foot had bent, so I had to find a different posture. I was doing less demo time in class, so I had to find more language to teach. Evolve or dissolve. This injury was a gift in a lot of ways. It hurt a lot, which is never fun, but there was a lot of learning in it for me.

Evolving is as difficult as dissolving is and sometimes you have to do both simultaneously, so I always turn to my practice. My practice always shows me what is really happening in my body and shines a mirror back on my life. Examine this in your own life. What has shifted in your body as you practice, as you experience different emotions and events in your life. What do you notice? I notice tightness, a shift in how I walk and stand, what my shoulders are doing and where they are trying to go (always towards my ears). This knowledge has informed my evolve or dissolve mantra and helped me discover which part of that spectrum I need to be on as things come up and a light shines on what I need to work through.

My “go to” poses in times like these are my challenge poses and my favorite poses. The ones I have a strong positive or negative reaction to. They are always the most informative for me. They show me what I am open to and what I am resisting. Here are some of mine, in no particular order. (You’d be surprised which of these fall into each category, it’s not always what you think.)

• Utkatasana – Chair Pose
• Virabhadrasana I – Warrior I
• Bhujangasana – Cobra pose
• Adho Mukha Svanasana – Downdog
• Urdhva Dhanurasana – Wheel (Upward bow)l
• Sirsasana – Headstand
• Tadasana – Mountain Pose
• Meditation
• Eka Pada Rajakapotasana- Pigeon Pose

What are you challenge poses? Your favorite poses?

When evolving and dissolving it is important to remember that it won’t always look like you think it will and it won’t always appear where you think it will. Keep an open mind and heart, work your practice and be true to what is coming up for you. If we resist it, we get stuck in a battle of emotion and fear. Resistance can often create blocks and prevent evolving or dissolving. If we are accepting, we have space to move through the good and the bad, and the energy to forge ahead.

Can you find examples of evolving and dissolving in your life?

(Don’t forget to look in the unexpected places)