Bent knees are okay here…

Well if that isn’t the weirdest title to a blog post I’ve ever written! This is something my yoga teacher said yesterday that struck me as both funny and amazing all at the same time:

“And forward fold, place your hands on the floor. Bent knees are okay here….actually bent knees are okay for the rest of your life!”

Basically what she was saying is – it’s okay to make this easy for yourself. 

And not just right here, for this particular forward fold…it’s okay to make your life easier ALWAYS.

As soon as I heard my teacher say this, my face split into a crazy grin. I instantly loved this idea and kept repeating it to myself.

I love this idea because I’m usually working in the exact opposite direction. I’m the queen of complication. I over think things until I give myself a headache. I plan until I’m crazy overwhelmed with details, and then I plan some more just to make sure everything will be just right.

But sometimes, I just need to step back, take a break, and make my life easier, even if it’s as simple as bending my knees so I can ease into a yoga pose, let my muscles relax, and then stand stronger within the pose for a longer period of time.

I know I’ve talked a lot this year about perfection – why we strive for it, but how it can also hold us back because the time taken to rip out every offending stitch is time we could be quilting and building skill.

Lately I’ve been trying to ease up on myself and practice what I’ve been preaching!

More specifically, I’ve been quickly quilting through my batting test sandwiches. Because this is quick quilting, I’ve not bothered with quilting perfectly on the lines or even within the ditches, and my travel stitching is a total mess.

When I think about this too much, it really starts to upset me! I will most likely take these samples with me to classes, where they will be seen by students and AHH! What if they SEE all that IMPERFECTION?! What will they THINK?!

Yes, this is what my brain likes to do. Run wild with accusations and “what if’s” and obsess about the thoughts other people have, which I can’t control even if I tried.

I know this, and these days I can at least smile at my silly brain, but it still takes effort not to pick up my seam ripper and obsessively rip out every imperfect stitch.

But when I think of that yoga line – it’s okay to bend your knees, it’s okay to be easy on yourself. It’s okay! – I feel less panicked and more willing to accept myself and my stitches no matter how they look.

So yeah, that line of panicked thinking is still there, but today at least, I’m going to bend my knees, make my life a little easier, and focus on the fun of quilting all these squishy sandwiches and seeing what batting becomes my new favorite.

Isn’t it nice to have a reminder that life really can be easy? Just bend your knees and ease into it!

Let’s go quilt,

Leah