Do you trust me?

 

For the past three years, I have been practicing Aerial Yoga. It is a new form of exercise, in which we use a hammock to perform yoga asanas ( poses).

A hammock is a stretchy piece of fabric that seems very fragile, but it has amazing strength and flexibility. My relationship with the hammock was that of a love-hate one. I approached it with curiosity first…..wanted to do something different you see….jara hatke!

One month and few spells of giddiness later…., I dismissed it…saying it was just a new fad….and gave it up and went back to my traditional yoga practice which I was enjoying thoroughly.

My guru, Nital ma’am, coaxed me to give aerial yoga another shot. Just to please her, I re-enrolled….She had just one tip for me……Mruga, Trust the hammock…

I kept repeating this line in my head and got into the hammock and looked up…there on the giant mirror in front of me , were the bold letters, painted in red….TRUST THE HAMMOCK! They were there all along, but I had never noticed them.

Over the next sessions, urged by Nital ma’am, I learnt the process of letting go and trusting the hammock.

Gradually I learnt the technique of relaxing and letting go.

My body (and mind )opened up, my poses became more stable and my range improved.

Today, I look forward to my aerial yoga sessions with the same enthusiasm that I have for my traditional yoga work out.

Those words on the mirror have made a huge shift in my personal mindset.

I used to be skeptical of peoples’ abilities to do a job. I believed that they would do it best only if I supervised or I gave a million instructions.

The hammock has taught me to trust people. I no longer hover in the kitchen after I give the day’s  instructions to the new cook.

While buying vegetables,I no longer check each and every tomato that the sabjiwala is putting in my bag. A far cry from the old me who used to visually inspect every item of vegetable under a microscope before approving it worthy of entering my kitchen.

I just tell him. bhaiyya, you choose the best and give me. And he does!!

I am able to tell my amazing staff and team, that I know that they will do a great job.,

I can look into their eyes and say….I trust you with the responsibility that I have given you, truly….

The results are amazing. The person usually goes out of his or her way to do the job at hand even better than expected.

Putting ones trust in a person makes the person feel responsible for the faith and trust put in them. Not only that, they will do their best to retain the trust placed in them.

My parents and in-laws still don’t trust me with certain recipes or managing certain tasks. In their minds, probably I am still an immature, irresponsible child. (The fact that I will turn fifty this year does not matter to them at all.)

As parents, having mistrust in our own children and their abilities, is in our DNA. We find it hard to imagine, forget accepting the idea that our kids can be better than us.

Why is it so hard? How do we let go of this urge to control?

Trust the hammock I say.  Let go and hang free!

I find myself asking myself, will I, as a mother in law, be able to trust my daughter in law with the ‘keys” of the house ( metaphorically speaking of course).

Of course I will and I am sure that she will do a better job at it than me!

I was of the firm belief that any task is done best if you do it yourself. But now, I am able to delegate better. Of course I still follow-up, and cross check.

Now, that’s another tip I have learnt from the hammock. Trust but cross check…. trust the hammock, but first cross check if it has been anchored properly in the ceiling hook.

Trust people , the process and the situation…..but do cross check…..you don’t want to fall from the hammock….if you know what I mean!

So, trust me…this works….do try it out…cross check and let me know your experiences.