What the Itsy Bitsy spider can teach you about your yoga practice

Last week our yoga teacher told us the story about the Itsy Bitsy spider and he tied it into our yoga practice very nicely.

In case you have forgotten this nursery rhyme her it is.

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
and the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

So how does this nursery rhyme about rain and a spider relate to your yoga practice?

It has never rained in any yoga studio that I have been in. But there can be all kinds of metaphorical rain in your practice. Let’s look at your typical progress learning a yoga pose.

The Itsy Bitsy spider climbs up the waterspout

You are learning a new yoga pose. You follow the teacher’s instructions, putting your arms and legs where they should be.

The spider makes progress up the spout

Over the next couple of weeks you keep working on the pose and some progress is made. You are getting more comfortable with the pose and then it happens.

Down comes the rain and washes the spider out

You injure yourself. All your progress is wiped away by the injury. You have to start all over again.

Out comes the sun and dries up all the rain

You work on recovering from your injury. Eventually you are healed. You are now ready once again to start moving forward.

And the Itsy Bitsy spider climbs up the spout again

You are more careful this time. Maybe you will get further. Maybe you will reach the top of the drain spout.

In this example the rain is represented by an injury in your yoga practice. There is more than one kind of rain.

There are many kinds of rain

There are many sources of the rain that can halt your progress in a yoga pose including:

• Injury. You can injure yourself by trying too hard. Eventually you will recover from your injury and start on the pose once more.
• Stiffness . Joint stiffness and short muscles can prevent you from making any progress in a pose for a long time. Eventually you will become more flexible and you will be able to move forward.
• Poor alignment. Incorrect alignment can prevent you from making progress in a pose . It can also lead to injury. Your yoga teacher can help you to overcome this problem. Once you have the correct alignment you will start to make progress in the pose once again.
• Ego. Your ego can prevent you from making progress in a pose. Trying too hard to satisfy your ego causes your muscles to tense up and prevent you from making any progress. Your yoga teacher can not help you very much with this problem. This is something that you need to work out yourself. Learning to accept where you are at in a yoga pose is the first step in managing your ego. Once this happens you will start to make progress up that water spout.

Summary

The nursery rhyme about the Itsy Bitsy spider teaches us that it takes more than one attempt to accomplish a task.

In yoga it often takes many attempts before you are able to accomplish a pose. Sometimes it may take years of working on a pose before you are able to do it well.

The other thing that this nursery rhyme teaches you is to not give up in the face of setbacks.

When adversity strikes and you get washed down the water spout follow the spiders example, dry yourself out and start on the pose again.

Next Step

The next time you are working on a yoga pose and you run into a road block or set back, remember the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Dry yourself out and try again. Maybe this time you will get a little further.

Additional Reading

Here is the link to the nursery rhyme The Itsy Bitsy Spider

You will also run into dragons in your yoga practice.  Read How to keep your daily yoga practice going when the dragons strike to learn how to deal with them.

You can cause your challenges in yoga class.  The article How do you hurt yourself in yoga class shows you what can go wrong and how to avoid it.