Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Looks Easier Than It Is...

Yoga isn't easy. Oh, I know commercials and tv shows make it look easy, but trust me, it isn't. What could be so hard, you think. You sit or stand on a mat, stretch your arms out, breathe deep and say Namaste.

That's like thinking writing is easy.

You sit down, write a novel, send it to a publisher who instantly loves it and now you're a bestseller.

Uh, no.

Writing, like yoga, requires you to stretch muscles you haven't used in a while, or if ever. (I don't remember ever having been in a downward dog position.) After a few sessions of stretching, reaching, twisting and forcing my body into new and not wonderful shapes, it's complaining. I'm sore.

When you write, you have to stretch your writing muscles. This means getting into the habit of writing every day, trying new techniques, and living with the pain from criticism (some of it your own).

But with time it all gets easier (or so I'm told. It doesn't feel any easier today after several classes). No one said yoga or writing was easy, and if they did, don't believe them. For some with abundant natural talent maybe, but like yoga, writing is a skill that can be honed.

Go stretch, discover new things about yourself and learn to live with the pain.


Namaste...

Char