How To Lead From Your Spirit When Your Head Says “No Way”

“Your body can do more than your mind thinks it can.”  That was the line my 5:45 am exercise instructor said as we were in a deep excruciatingly painful plié with our imaginary two inch kitten heels on.

For non-ballerinas this means heels are up as you do mini-squats down and up.  This goes on for five minutes.  The Dailey Method program calls it “leg work.”  I call it “legs-O’-fire.”

It’s a good class for me because as a runner, I’ve been feeling the effects of not stretching all my life.  This class forces me to stretch physically and metaphorically.

The first time I heard my teacher say, “Your body can do more than your mind thinks it can,” I thought, “Is she kidding me?  This hurts like H@&%!”  I pulled out of the pose ahead of the others.

The next class she said it again.  “Your body can do more than your mind says it can.”

I wondered.  I wanted to test her “fact.”  Could I simply override my fact: feeling like a spike was drilling into both of my quads? I decided to try.

My legs shook.  My whole body quivered.   I muttered a few choice words under my breath.  She said hold it another 10 seconds.  I told my mind when it said “stop, now” that it was talking crazy talk.  “My body can do this.”  But how?

I thought, what if I just ‘let go.’  What if I stopped focusing on the pain? Stopped trying to control everything and let something else take over.  I did; I let go, and took my thoughts away from the pain and to my special imaginary escape image –the view from the Fairmont Kea Lani Hotel in Maui.

An amazing thing happened: I made it through the entire exercise.  On a physical level, my legs became stronger that day. On a more poignant level, my Spirit also became stronger.

I experienced the raw power of letting go and surrendering – something my driven, warrior-like self resists.

Since then I have become more observant of the other areas of my life where I hold myself back or stop early because my mind says I can’t do it.  I stall on my project,  I decide it’s too much work to put on that seminar, I think I can’t juggle my job and the extracurricular activities for the kids, I hold back so I ‘reserve my energy,’ I give up and agree with my mind that I can’t do it.

Einstein said our ego minds are to be the faithful servants of our Higher Self or Spirit.  But to do that we have to trust our Higher Selves.  Maybe our Higher Self can bring us a different way to accomplish the task, a way that we can make it happen. Too often, however, we lead from our minds, missing downloads of information, sparks of creativity, and answers because our mind isn’t even listening.

I invite you this week to come from a “new perspective” a more true, spirit-filled perspective instead of from what my teacher calls the little barking dog – the ego mind.

Ask yourself, “What if I listened to Spirit, what would I do?”  What would I explore, what lead would I follow or pursue if I didn’t think of my limitations?  What if I let my Spirit lead versus my head?  How would my reality change? Try it.  Let Spirit find you a path.  You may uncover an answer to something that’s been resisting you.  You may discover a new resource – inside of you.  Or you may simply feel lighter, freer, and happier as a result.  That kind of vibe is exactly where to start creating your beautiful life.

When we listen to the gentle guidance of our Spirit, our life flows and our mental and physical success follows.  It is a “fact” I love to prove to myself.