The peacock is beautiful to look at but it has a terrible singing voice.
Bob looks with envy at Alice as she works on one of her yoga poses. He has always wanted to be able to do that pose as well as Alice does it.
Bob does many yoga poses with ease but he has always wanted to be able to do more. Bob is suffering from the Peacock’s Envy. Aesop wrote about the Peacock’s envy a long time ago.
The Peacock and Juno
THE PEACOCK made complaint to Juno that, while the nightingale pleased every ear with his song, he himself no sooner opened his mouth than he became a laughingstock to all who heard him.
The Goddess, to console him, said, “But you far excel in beauty and in size. The splendor of the emerald shines in your neck and you unfold a tail gorgeous with painted plumage.”
“But for what purpose have I,” said the bird, “this dumb beauty so long as I am surpassed in song?’
“The lot of each,” replied Juno, “has been assigned by the will of the Fates–to thee, beauty; to the eagle, strength; to the nightingale, song; to the raven, favorable, and to the crow, unfavorable auguries. These are all contented with the endowments allotted to them.”
Moral: “Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.”
What is the Peacock’s Envy
The peacock has beautiful plumage. It has the most beautiful plumage in all of the bird kingdom. But still it wants more. The peacock wants to be the best at everything.
Bob, like the peacock, wants to be the best in every yoga pose. He looks around and sees someone doing a pose better than him and he wants to be as good as they are in the yoga pose.
And that is just one of the problems with the Peacock’s Envy that Bob is suffering from.
What is wrong with having Peacock’s Envy
There are many problems that happen when you have the Peacock’s Envy. Among them are
- Loss of focus
- Let your ego control you
- Increase stress
We will look at each one of these and how they are affecting Bob in his yoga practice starting with loss of focus.
Loss of focus
Bob is no longer focused inwards on his own yoga pose. He is focused outwards looking around at everyone else.
This outward focus can lead Bob to injure himself. Paying less attention to how your are doing your own yoga pose can lead to misalignment, ignoring your edge and maybe even slacking off and not put your optimum effort into the pose.
Bob’s lack of focus is being driven by his ego.
Let your ego control you
Rather than accepting where he is at in his yoga pose Bob is going beyond his safe zone and trying too hard to do the pose.
To be the best in each yoga pose Bob is ignoring the feedback from his body and is taking his body beyond the learning zone into dangerous waters.
Manage Peacock Envy by
- Focusing on the now
- Respecting your body
- Enjoying the journey
Bob’s ego is driving him beyond his edge and causing him stress.
Peacock Envy increases stress
Focusing outward and trying to be the best in every yoga pose is increasing the stress Bob is feeling from his yoga practice.
In his desire to be the best in every yoga pose he is causing an increase in stress in his body. This is negating the benefits he can get from a yoga practice.
Bob’s Peacock Envy is causing him to loose focus, let his ego control him and is increasing his stress, but all is not lost.
How to deal with the Peacock’s Envy
There are several things that Bob can do to get his Peacock envy under control.
- Focus on the now
- Respect your body
- Enjoy the journey
Focus on the now
Bob needs to focus inwards on his own yoga pose. Working to gradually improve the pose based on where he is right now is a much better approach.
Everybody has their own Edge, that safe but challenging place, in a yoga pose and it is different for each person in each yoga pose. Finding that edge and focusing on it will help Bob to move forward with each yoga pose.
Respect your body
When Bob accepts the limitations that his body has in each pose he will start to make progress safely towards his long term goal of having an excellent pose.
Paying attention to the feedback from your body and respecting the limitations that it is imposing will help Bob to have a safe and satisfying yoga practice
Enjoy the journey
Each yoga pose is a journey and Bob’s body is making that journey at its own pace.
By setting small incremental goals, (inch pebbles) rather than one large goal (milestone) Bob is accepting that achieving a yoga pose is a long and slow journey.
This acceptance of the long journey will help to reduce and eliminate the stress that he is feeling from the Peacock’s Envy.
Summary
The Peacock’s Envy can strike at anytime. You may think that you have it under control when you discover that you are focused outward rather than inward as you look around to see how well other people are doing in the pose. You are letting your ego control you and your stress is increasing as you attempt to be the best in a yoga pose that you have always found challenging.
To control the Peacock’s Envy, you like Bob, need to focus inwards on your own yoga pose, pay attention to the feedback from your body and respect its limitations. Accepting that all yoga poses are a journey and that everyone progresses at their own rate will help you to control your ego and reduce the stress that you are feeling.
Next Step
The next time you are working on a yoga pose check to see if you are suffering from the Peacock’s Envy. Are you focused outward, checking everyone else or are you focused inwards on your own journey and working on that next inch pebble.
Additional Reading
Another Aesop fable on the same topic has to do with a crow and a shiny object. Read How to make your practice worse, check out the shiny objects to find out more.
To learn more about patience read Why you should embrace the Ugly Duckling pose.
How to love the pose you hate shows you how to control your ego and get more out of your yoga practice.
To embrace the inch pebble concept check out How the Filbert Principle will improve your yoga practice
