It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. -Theodore Roosevelt

Brené Brown an expert researcher on vulnerability and shame was so inspired by this quote when doing her research she named her book Daring Greatly.

Daring greatly.  It’s what we are all here to do, but in order to dare greatly we must be prepared to be vulnerable.  Being vulnerable for most, is one of our most frightening fears.  It can leave us feeling exposed, insecure and seen.

Surveys have shown, one of the biggest fears in society today is public speaking, people are more fearful of this than death.  Why?  Because standing up in front of a room full of people and expressing our thoughts, opening our hearts, showing our passion, also means being vulnerable, letting go of control, and exposing ourselves, and that can be very frightening.

But Brené Brown also says if we don’t have the courage to be vulnerable and risk failure we miss out on the good things because as she puts it so eloquently  “Vulnerability is also the birthplace of joy, of love, of belonging, of creativity, of faith”.

So how do we learn to be vulnerable, open, exposed when we’ve spent most of our lives shielding ourselves with masks and armour?

The mat is a great place to start.  Practicing yoga gives us the opportunity to experience our vulnerability in a safe environment.  It stretches us, contorts us, opens our hearts and emotions, makes us feel and connect and in doing so we allow ourselves to become vulnerable.  Each time we get back on the mat, (even if we don’t realise this at first) we become more comfortable with this feeling and as we become more comfortable we become more open and connected.  Brené also says “In order for connection to happen we have to be really seen”.  Yoga allows us to be seen.

So this week lets get on our mats, allow ourselves to be vulnerable and dare greatly.

Just a reminder, that we have new timetable. Yogi Maya will now be teaching on Tuesday nights at 7.00pm and Karen will be teaching Thursday nights at 7.00pm. For the time being there will no 8.00am Sunday class. Adette and Bartek’s classes remain the same.

Classes this week:
7.00 pm Monday – Adette
7.00 pm Tuesday – Maya
7.00 pm Thursday – Karen
7.15 am Friday – Bartek

The studio is located at Flying Yogis, Unit 12, 5/11 Hollywood Avenue, BondiJunction, just behind Westfield in the arcade next to the carpark entrance.  Please go to the rear of the arcade on the right

To follow updates on classes, workshops and retreats at It’s All Good Kundalini, please like the Facebook page ‘It’s all Good Kundalini’ and follow the Instagram account @itsallgoodkundalini