Carol S. Dweck in here book “Mindset – The new psychology of Success” talks about how babies naturally have a growth mindset. Watch a baby learning how to walk. They struggle to stand up holding on to the furniture. They take a step and down they fall on their diaper. They struggle once again to stand up. They wobble back and forth and again they they take a step. Once again they fall on their diaper.
Do they give up and say it is too hard. Do they say obviously I was not meant to walk, therefore I will sit here and wait for everything to come to me. Babies naturally have a growth mindset
Carol Dweck proposes that there are two basic mindsets that people have. A fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
What is a fixed mindset
A fixed mindset does not change that much
A person with a fixed mindset will approach a new situation or challenge with fear and trepidation. The fixed mindset person will take every opportunity to show how smart or naturally talented they are. It is vital to them that they succeed at a task or challenge at the very first attempt. This success feeds there view that they very smart and extremely talented. Failure at the task will result in the fixed mindset person coming up with all kinds of reasons why the failure was not their fault.
A fixed mindset person will try a yoga pose and if they do not manage to do the pose as well as the teacher, then the excuses and rationalizations start to form in their head. I must be a stupid failure. I was never meant to do it anyway. My body is not flexible enough. That’s the way my body is. I can not change this. The teacher did not teach me how to do it correctly.
A fixed mindset person tends to take everything in your life as evidence of their innate ability. Now let’s have a look at the growth mindset person and see how they differ compared to the fixed mindset person.
What is a growth mindset
A growth mindset continues to seek new experiences and challenges.
A person with a growth mindset will approach a new situation or challenge with excitement and anticipation. The growth mindset person will take the challenge as an opportunity to learn something new. Failing at a task or challenge is not devastating for growth mindset person. It just means that they have not figured out how to do it yet. They look as the failure as a learning opportunity. How did I fail? What can I learn from this? What different ways I can try again to perhaps do it better?
A growth mindset person will try a yoga pose and if they do not manage to do the pose as well as the teacher, then they will examine how well they did and see if they can determine what they are doing wrong and try again. They will say to themselves that they actually did pretty well with the pose and that with some more practice they will do even better and in no time at all they will be do the yoga pose pretty well. A growth mindset person will look forward to the challenge and the progress that they are making over time. They are not concerned about their failure to do the yoga pose perfectly.
How does mindset apply to your yoga practice
As Carol Dweck says in her book, a baby naturally has a growth mindset. They never give up trying to walk. They are not concerned about their failures. They look at the failures as just a step in the learning process. One more thump on their diaper covered bottom means that they are getting closer to figuring out how to do this new thing called walking.
A person starting a yoga practice for the first time should adopt a growth mindset. Everything is new. I know nothing. I am here to learn. If I can not do a yoga pose it does not mean that I am stupid, it just means that I have a chance to learn and develop my flexibility.
Why should You have a growth mindset
When you adopt a growth mindset, you look forward to the failures, the challenges. You see learning new yoga poses and the challenges that learning them presents as a bonus of your yoga practice. The more you try a yoga pose the more excited you get at your progress. Every little bit of progress is greeted with excitement and pleasure.
A yoga practice is an exciting time for a person with the growth mindset.
Summary
The baby never gives up and little by little their ability to stand improves and eventually after many months of failure they take there first step and then there second step. They have finally succeed at their goal of walking. It may not be pretty but they are doing it. And boy are they proud of their success.
A growth mindset is the best mindset to have if you are starting out to learn how to do yoga. Like the baby above you will continue to learn and you will consider the challenges and set backs one more step along the path to success.
