When I first began practicing yoga twelve years ago, I was frustrated by my lack of progress in flexibility, strength and coordination. With time and practice, all of these improved. Today, I’m no yogi by any stretch (haha) but I’ve transformed from the Tin Man into a relatively strong, flexible and coordinated practitioner.
One yoga teacher recommended using a thick dictionary as a prop when you couldn’t sink fully into a posture – every day tear out one page until you no longer need the prop.
Another teacher said to try to improve each movement 1% a day until you reach mastery.
I wanted faster improvement than that. But yoga and my body didn’t care.
Practicing yoga for 12 years has taught me about incremental progress and patience. Somedays, an improvement of 1 page or 1% was not possible. Over the years, I’ve had setbacks: some injuries, two hernia surgeries, life issues and periods when I couldn’t practice yoga consistently.
But I’ve learned that I can come back from many setbacks. In time – with incremental progress.
The latest example is my elbow bursitis.
According to Google and the urgent care doctor I saw, this usually goes away on its own without requiring surgery. Some people report it going away in 2 weeks, some 8 weeks, some longer.
Naturally I assumed I’d be at the front of the line since I’m in great physical shape and health. I expected I’d be 100% after 2 weeks.
You can add this to the list of predictions I got wrong.
I’ve had bursitis for 8 weeks now.
Some weeks, it seemed like nothing was getting better. I was tempted to force the issue and see a surgeon. But the risk of infection, complications and recovery time related to the surgery made me decide to wait longer.
Finally, after several weeks, I noticed the pain was diminishing. Then a few weeks later, the swelling decreased ever so slightly. Then even later, my strength and range of motion gradually improved.
That’s not how I want it to happen. I want immediate results.
Instead, every day, it seems like it is getting 1% better. The improvements are so infinitesimal, I only notice them over a period of weeks.
But I’m grateful that it is getting better.
And I know that eventually, it will be 100% again.
In time.
With incremental improvement.