Margie’s Meanderings: 2/27/23

I have vivid memories from growing up in Taiwan. One of them is iconically Chinese–petite grandmothers in Malasana, a yoga squat, with a grandchild strapped to their back. As a child, that was a position I could easily hold. Up until a couple of years ago as an adult, there is no way I could go into that yoga squat, let alone hold it for hours.

A condensation bucket at the flower shop changed all that. We use five gallon paint buckets to collect the condensation coming out of our flower coolers. One of them is located under a display table. It didn’t matter how strong my arms were. I wasn’t flexible or balanced enough to maneuver under the table in that squat position to move and lift the bucket.

When we’re young, we’re sponges soaking up new information. We’re flexible and malleable, wide-eyed and open-minded, eager to learn and absorb experiences. Truth matters to little kids! Have you noticed that? As we get older, we start to form opinions with that information, and like our bodies, can become rigid and lose balance.

Inflexibility and loss of balance are not inexorable conclusions as we mature. I can now shuffle/squat under that table and move a heavy bucket of water easily. Age didn’t prevent me from doing that a few years ago. The choice to stop doing the things that kept me flexible and balanced is what prevented me.

I look up word definitions all the time to make sure I’m using them correctly, even words that I know the meaning of, like balance. Balance means “to remain upright and steady.” An upright man is honorable and honest. Have you noticed that truth matters to little kids?

Malasana, that yoga squat, is an awesome thing! It strengthens our feet and ankles–our foundation. It creates space in our spinal column–having backbone doesn’t have to come with rigidity. On a daily basis, we can choose those things that keep us flexible and balanced, open-minded and upright, in body and soul.

As we make good choices, we will be strong enough to carry and protect our grandchildren, and be the very best examples of unconditional love, truth, understanding, compassion, wisdom, for them to sponge up.