Your Limitless Potential

Is there something you’d like to do or achieve with your life? Do you nurse secret fantasies of writing a book, becoming a champion surfer or a Neurolinguistic Wizard? ‘They’ say anything is possible so even if you’ve never picked up a pen, grew up in landlocked Droylsden or are like…wizard what? You have the potential to achieve whatever it is your heart is whispering to you.

‘Nothing is impossible, the very word itself says ‘I’m Possible.’ (Audrey Hepburn).

Thanks Ms Hepburn, indeed. Human beings are wired for growth. The great Patriarch David Attenborough when asked, in all his years of studying the glorious biodiversity of Planet Earth, what is the most impressive thing he knows answered: The Human Baby:

"The rate at which it grows. The rate at which it learns. The rate at which it acquires nerves. It is the most complex and the most extraordinary of all creatures. Nothing compares to it." (DA)

Nothing compares to it. You! Me! Imagine that. Some days just having a shower feels like an achievement and yet, inside my head, and yours, is the most complex super computer in the known universe. A completely natural, nothing artificial, 100% extraordinary, super rapid fast thinking machine – inside your head. Think about that (then think about your brain thinking about itself…yeah).  The human brain is so mind-bendingly incredible we can’t even really begin to understand it’s process’ (well I can’t but the point is if I wanted to - genuinely burning with the feverish desire - then with a little elbow grease and some (many) years of study, I could because of the limitless potential for growth between my ears.

Neuroplasticity: ‘the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury’. Years ago they used to think that once you were 18 the brain was moulded and that was you done. Nothing else going in after that, forever young. The brain has since figured out that that was erroneous and we now know we can rewire ourselves, expand our learning capacity, change our thinking and learn, learn, learn until they shut the coffin lid (bury me with a Walkman and a Rosetta Stone tape – being multilingual will come in handy in the after life).  And we live the age of information, what a time to be alive!

So how do we begin to open ourselves up to our own limitless potential? It’s challenging after years of condition based thinking wired by the past but there are ways. Yoga is one such way. A regular yoga practice directly complements and assists the natural human capacity for growth and expansion. It is an art and science of self enquiry and self exploration. We meet ourselves on the mat in ways we never have before. We feel into our bodies, our minds, our hearts and souls. We come face to face with our limitations, encounter our resistance, ask questions and begin to move beyond what we ever thought possible for ourselves.

A beginner begins at the beginning; laying the foundations, experiencing the breath anew, exploring the body, becoming familiar with the mind and, with time and practice, is no longer a beginner. They transform into a practitioner, can move in ways they previously thought impossible for them, notice the fluctuations of the mind, calm the nervous system, soothe the heart. They become familiar with themselves, become familiar with what’s possible and available for them and see, that, just possibly, anything is.