Should you be the Tortoise or the Hare in your yoga practice?
Everybody knows the Aesop Fable about The Hare and the Tortoise, but just in case you don’t or you need to be reminded about how it ends here is the story.
The Hare and the Tortoise
A Hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.” The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal.
On the day appointed for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue.
Slow but steady wins the race.
Which should you be: The Tortoise or the Hare? At first glance everyone including Aesop believe that you should be the Tortoise, because she finished first. I disagree.
Let’s look at the two race contestants a little more closely starting with the winner of the race the Tortoise.
The Tortoise
The Tortoise matches the moral of the story perfectly. “Slow and Steady wins the race” She is definitely slow and steady, plodding along on her short legs, she eventually reaches the finish line and wins the race long before the Hare shows up. So what is wrong with that?
From the fable the Tortoise has several interesting traits:
- She is focused on her goal. She never looses sight of it. She is focused on winning the race.
- She keeps working towards that goal and is determined to finish the race no matter how much effort it takes on her part.
- She is exhausted by the time she reaches her goal and needs to take a rest right afterwards.
- She is slow. She is putting in a low amount of effort. It is taking her a very long time to finish the race.
Now let’s look at those traits as they apply to her yoga practice rather than to the race:
- She is focused on her goal of becoming more flexible in her yoga practice.
- She stays focused on this goal. She is not distracted by the many other possible goals that she could have in her yoga practice.
- She is willing to put an hour a week every week into reaching this goal. She is in no rush to get there.
- She is okay with taking a couple of years to reach her goal of becoming more flexible.
- She knows she will eventually make her goal because she is committed and will not give up.
The Tortoise is the winner of the race and everyone wants to be like the winner. Should you embrace the Tortoise in your yoga practice? Before you answer that question, let’s have a closer look at the Hare, the loser of the race.
The Hare
The Hare like the Tortoise has some interesting traits as well:
- He has lots of energy and enthusiasm. The Hare is literally bouncing up and down and can’t wait to get started.
- He is easily distracted. As we see in the story the Hare is quickly distracted from the goal of winning the race.
- He takes long breaks in the belief that with his superior speed that he will be able to beat the Tortoise.
- He lacks focus and does not stick to the task at hand.
Let’s see how these traits apply to the Hare’s yoga practice:
- He is really enthusiastic about yoga. He can not find out enough information about it. He is searching the web, reading books, watching videos on YouTube.
- He is practising yoga five times this week, which is better than last week when he only got to class once.
- He is taking several weeks off for vacation in the Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall.
- He is expecting to to reach his yoga goal in a matter of days, not years. If he doesn’t, well he can always get back to his yoga practice right after his next vacation.
The Hare is the loser in the race, should you embrace the Hare in your yoga practice? Perhaps there is something that both of these characters can offer to your yoga practice.
Embrace the HareTortoise
Nothing says that you have to be either the Hare or the Tortoise. If you could take the best traits of both the Hare and the Tortoise and leave the other traits behind let’s see what your yoga practice would look like.
From the Tortoise take
- Be focused on your goal. Do not be distracted by other goals that crop up along the way.
- Be committed. Put in the effort over the long haul to reach your goal.
From the Tortoise leave behind
- Low level of effort. The Tortoise only had some much energy to put into reaching the goal.
From the Hare take
- Be enthusiastic. Enthusiasm keeps you interested in your goal.
- Be energetic. Put in the energy and lots of it to reach you goal.
From the Hare leave behind
- Easily distracted. Changing your goal every few days is not a good plan.
- Take breaks. Sporadic efforts applied towards reaching your goal is pretty much a waste of your time.
You should be the Hare and you should be the Tortoise. Take the best features of both of them.
- Be focused on your goal
- Be committed to reaching that goal
- Be enthusiastic
- Be energetic
In your yoga practice you set that goal to be more flexible. You stick with that goal. You are enthusiastic about the goal and you are willing to attend 3 to 5 classes a week to reach that goal.
Summary
Aesop is right, Slow and Steady does win the race, if you have lots of time. If you have a Tortoise practice it will take a very long time for you to see any progress towards your goal.
However if you embrace the HareTortoise and take on the good traits of both the Hare and the Tortoise you will have success sooner.
Embrace the enthusiasm and energy of the Hare, combine it with the focused determination and long term commitment of the Tortoise and you will have a winning yoga practice. You will progress rapidly towards your goal and you will keep doing your yoga practice until you get there no matter how long it takes.
Next Step
Set a goal in your yoga practice and commit to work towards that goal three to five times a week. You will be pleased with the improvements in your mind, body and spirit.
Additional Reading
Read How to use Deliberate Practice to get more out of your yoga.
To find out more about goal setting in your yoga practice read How to develop a concrete goal for your yoga practice
And finally read A Growth Mindset moves your practice forward to develop the attitude towards your yoga practice.
