This is my epic Christmas story. Okay, so it’s not epic to the point that I saved my family from a bear attack, or a firsthand account of a heroic Warrior 2 pose that saved a small village from the Grinch (before his heart grew), but it is kind of cool and applies to yoga.
I’m using my brother’s car while I’m staying in Cleveland. He’s got a green Jeep Liberty from 1985 (not really 1985). It’s very popular, because people try to break into it often. This morning, on my way to meet a friend for coffee, I started to put the key in the ignition, only to realize that the key was bent. Either my standing poses are too effective and my legs have turned into steel, which caused the key to bend, or my jeans were too tight. Whatever the reason, the key was now twisted and unusable. I called my dad and told him the situation, so he walked downstairs and tried it himself, only to break the key off in the ignition. (My dad is eventually going to read this email, so if you’re reading this now… Hi, Brad!)
We go on to breakfast and do our best not to bring up the subject. We’ll deal with it later. Live in the moment, and worry about problems when we need to, not when we don’t have to. Well, with my personality being as it is, this works for about 5 minutes until I get up from the table and call AAA, and ask whether or not they’ll be able to remove the broken key from the ignition. They say that they will either send a representative or call a locksmith. I tell them thank you, and that I’ll call them if I need them.
Breakfast finishes, and I tell my dad confidently that I’m going to get the key out myself. Usually he’d say something like let’s leave it to the experts, but clearly my newfound confidence and yogic knowledge has swayed him to give me a chance to take the broken key out of the ignition and hopefully not electrocute myself. (Is that even possible? The fact that I’m asking this should give you a good idea of how knowledgable I am about cars and machinery in general.)
I go to the toolbox, select a few choice items, and then walk down to the parking garage to work some magic. I brought the following tools with me: pliers, 3 screwdrivers of varying sizes, and a hammer. Basically, I brought the manliest tools I could find. So I start jamming the screwdrivers into the ignition, trying to wedge the broken key out of place. This goes on for a good 15 minutes, with me trying to put in a larger screwdriver, the medium-sized screw driver, and then the smaller screwdriver. I tried one at a time, and two at a time. I used the hammer to wedge the screwdrivers in deeper and then the pliers to wrench it out. All unsuccessful. At this point, I almost gave up. “Well, at leastI tried,” I thought to myself. Then I remembered that I’ve got some other tools that I haven’t used yet. My mom got me a cuticle trimmer from Sephora. It’s tiny, sharp, and has a pink slip-proof handle. Could this small, pink, and feminine tool be the key to my success?
I return the other tools to their place and grab the cuticle trimmer. I walked back to the garage, sat in the front seat of the car… and the broken key was out the ignition 3 seconds later. Fixing cars, which, in our society, is pretty much the manliest thing that you can do, was done with a feminine tool. What’s my point here? Why does this apply to yoga?
Weightlifting is the hammer in your toolbox. Banging around weights is great. It’s satisfying. It gets your testosterone pumping. It makes your muscles bulge, and it makes you feel powerful. But you need to have balance. Sometimes you don’t need all that power. Sometimes what you need to do is move gracefully and specifically. Yoga is that extra tool that helps you refine your movements. It helps you to specialize your movements, to pay attention to minute details, and to use the appropriate amount of force. It’s the cuticle remover that complements your hammer and screwdrivers.
I’m working on some big things right now. The Man Flow Yoga community site will be live VERY soon. The Manbassadors and I have been testing it out for the last couple of weeks. I’ll give you the green light when it’s time. 🙂 I’m also finishing up a shoulder project to help you FIX your shoulders with a combination of 2 workouts (a 75-minute, once a week workout, and a 15-minute, 3-5 times a workout.) I’m also releasing a 40-minute full-body, exclusive workout from my muscle car series that I did a few months ago. Editing is finally finished and it’s ready to go. Stay close for details.
AND – information of the St. Croix Retreat (June 7 – June 13) is now available here. Check it out and reserve your spot!
Enjoy your weekend, and I’ll talk to you soon.
Happy Holidays,
Dean