First, some business...the podcast is not over, folks! I know it's been awhile, and for a moment there I thought it might have breathed it's last, but no! I'm doing some revamping, I'm setting up some interviews, so look out for Episode 6 in the next week or so! And, on that note...if there's someone out there you'd like me to interview...a yoga teacher, a yoga enthusiast, or just someone doing amazing work in the mind/body world...let me know!
Alright, so, yesterday was Halloween. I know it was Halloween, because there was a woman in a skin-tight full-body leopard-print cat-suit in my local coffee shop at 7:45 in the morning. There were also many fat adorable babies dressed as bugs and fruits and dragons being carted around by their proud mommas all day long. This is the best part of Halloween...the fat dressed-up babies.
I have never been a dresser-upper. I get sort of weird and shy and embarrassed when I have to put on a costume and I'm not in a play. In college it was fun...but in college halloween (for the women, at least) is just an opportunity to look as sexy as possible.
Anyhow...I thought about leopard-print cat-suit woman a lot yesterday.
I thought about how often in yoga, or meditation, or art-making or whatever...the goal, stated or otherwise, is to remove costumes...to remove masks...to reveal. Which is worthwhile, no question. But can feel, sometimes, very heavy. Very serious. What is sometimes forgotten, is that there is a more aspirational way to approach a practice. A way which involves trying on a version of ourselves that is not quite a reality yet. A way which allows us to zip ourselves into our favorite cat-suit for a day, and see how it feels.
And what's interesting is that this spiritual "dressing up" can feel just as weird and awkward and potentially-embarrassing as getting your morning coffee in full Halloween garb. I mean, once I got over feeling a little giggly about the cat-suit woman, my next thought was, "my god...she's brave." I can barely leave the house in short-shorts without feeling a little flush-faced. I can't imagine what kind of heavy sedation I would have to be under in order to wear a skin-tight body-suit out of doors! And why is that? Why is it so thrilling/scary to dress up?
I think, it's because people are going to look at you. People are going to look at you, and they're going to know something about you. You are going to be revealed. You are going to be bright. You are going to be taking up space in the world.
It's an old trope, I know...we're not actually afraid of the darkness, we're afraid of our own light, blah blah blah. But, you've met those people, haven't you? The ones who are really standing in their full glory? Who aren't apologizing for their existence? Who are unabashedly reaching for what they want? Those people are big. They're bright. They may as well be wearing a leopard-print cat-suit. (If we're talking about Beyonce, then it's possible that she IS wearing a cat-suit).
"Realized" people take up space. And people are going to look at them. And some people are going to look at them and think, oh my god, awesome cat-suit! And some people are going to look at them and think, oh my god, you look ridiculous! And that is the risk we take when we're revealed.
And maybe it's just me, but I think that can be pretty f-ing scary.
So, if you didn't get a chance to put on a Halloween costume this year, maybe think about dressing up today. No one has to know. It doesn't even have to fit you exactly...you don't have to have the perfect thighs you've been waiting for in order to slip into that leopard. Just, for one day, step into the fantasy of yourself. Yourself as dynamic, yourself as bright and alive and unafraid. And if someone giggles at you while you're ordering your coffee...just remember that they wish they could be as brave as you are.
