Wobbles are a part of our life — from the time we are born to the time we leave this world. What immediately comes to mind when I hear the word ‘wobbles’ is a baby first learning to walk. The first time a baby learns to stand up, you can clearly see how her legs wobble as she hangs on for dear life to the rails of her crib. But look at her face. She grins from ear to ear, triumphant at her achievement, unmindful of her instability.

As that baby learns to walk, her wobbles are still obvious. She takes a few steps, wobbles, falls, and immediately tries to stand up and walk again. Does she show frustration? Does she stop trying? Absolutely not. She tries over and over again until a few weeks later, she takes her first few steady steps that eventually turn to walking all over the house and even to running.

I heard someone once say that we are all born fearless. That a baby learning to walk has no fear. She is totally trusting of life and what she could eventually learn from all her falls. As we interact more with the outside world, however, that is when we learn to fear, doubt, and lose our trust in the world and sadly, many times, in ourselves.

No one is exempt in this life from wobbles, whatever form they take.

It is timely then that a book such as Embrace Your Wobbles came along in the form of an email, asking if I was interested in checking the book out. I read the introductory material that came in the email and I replied back. Of course, I wanted to read it!

Embrace Your Wobbles is a compilation of essays, written by yoga teachers and practitioners, which reveal their personal journeys in learning to accept and be grateful for their wobbles. Award-winning corporate trainer and yoga student, Priscilla Shumway, lovingly curated these essays, some of which were also about her own journey.

The 13 essays were categorized into three main sections:

1) Life Wisdom from Wobbles – The essays in this section help us understand life from our experience on the yoga mat. The wobbles on and off the mat call our attention to their importance in our personal growth.

2) Health Wisdom from Wobbles – The essays in this section explore how yoga helps support and make us cope with all sorts of health challenges. The authors in this section mention yogic practices such as breathwork, asanas (postures), and meditation, among them.

3) Yoga Wisdom from Wobbles – The essays in this section celebrate what Shumway refers to as “the wisdom each person gains from his or her individual yoga journey”. This section and the first one are interconnected as life is like yoga and yoga is like life.

In her essay The Path of Least Resistance, Shumway mentions Buddha’s path of moderation or the Middle Way. When faced with life wobbles, she gives some Middle Way intentions to consider:

• To notice but not judge wobbles—being aware of what is difficult or challenging in the present moment.
• When encountering a wobble (either physical or mental), to notice the inclination to take the path of least resistance and to pause and consider alternative paths.
• To challenge yourself both on and off the yoga mat to engage in the challenge, not always taking the path of least resistance.
• On your yoga mat, practice a few down dogs and planks in every gentle class to build strength and endurance. In more challenging classes, allow yourself not to complete all the vinyasas if your body tells you to rest.
• To be grateful to your body for allowing you to experience wobbles, for they remind you that you are still showing up to practice.

The book is an easy and quick read if you just read the stories from cover to cover. However, I recommend that you take your time going through them. Like me, you will find that some will resonate with you more than others. I stopped several times because I caught myself associating some of my past wobbles with the essay author’s own wobbles.

Embrace Your Wobbles is a book you will read, put back on the shelf, and pull out again several times in your lifetime. The essays that spoke to you the first time you read the book may not necessarily be the ones that will resonate the next time you pick it up. The insights from these essays will keep on teaching us throughout our own lives.

If you want your own copy of Embrace Your Wobbles, you can get them from Amazon.

Kindle ebook: https://amzn.to/2VjJhyj

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3zSi1WD

Let’s embrace our wobbles. They are part of life. When we accept them, they teach us so much more about how to live with meaning and purpose.

 

About the Author/Editor:

Priscilla Shumway

Priscilla Shumway, M.Ed was an award-winning corporate trainer for over 25 years. Traveling nationally and internationally she conducted programs on Train the Trainer, Presentation Skills, Instructional Design, Facilitation Skills and several other custom programs. She has been a contributing author in 5 books on education and training. She was the co-editor on Real Women, Real Leaders published by Wiley Publishing. A yoga student for over 18 years, she is thrilled to be working collaboratively with these authors to write Embrace Your Wobbles.