Even the Smallest Shift Can Change Everything
Over the past year and a half, I’ve been walking through a chapter I never expected — one shaped by a debilitating illness that brought my life to a halt. I had to take medical leave from work. My days stretched into long, uncertain hours, filled with questions I didn’t know how to answer.
What now? Will I ever get back to the life I knew?
I’ll share more of that journey in time. But today, I want to tell you about the practice that helped me most — not because it cured me or made everything better, but because it gave me a way to keep going, gently.
There’s a teaching in yoga called pratipakṣa bhāvana, which means “cultivating the opposite.” When we notice that we’re spiraling in a way that creates more pain — in our thoughts, habits, or responses — we’re invited to lean, softly, in the other direction. Not to push or force a change. Just to begin shifting the current.
As the weeks of illness turned into months, I noticed how easily I fell into despair or over-efforting. I’d criticize myself for not being productive. I’d try to push through the pain. Or, I’d give up entirely and collapse into numbness.
But this practice offered another option: gently turning toward something else.
Here’s how it looked in my daily life:
When I couldn’t get out of bed, I did one small thing — like finding an image for my new website or sending a kind note to a friend.
When pain made movement feel impossible, I unrolled my mat anyway and lay down. Sometimes I’d bring my knees to my chest and breathe. That was enough.
When I questioned my purpose, I looked for someone to help. I live in a community with many elderly neighbors, and I’d visit just to sit and listen, or walk someone outside to feel the sun on their face. It reminded me: I’m still here. I still have something to offer.
These aren’t grand gestures. But they matter.
Yoga and meditation teach us to observe the patterns — the saṁskāras — that keep us stuck. And they offer the tools to gently antidote them. You can do this anytime, anywhere:
Feeling jittery? Notice what’s touching the ground.
Feeling sluggish? Open a window and take a few deep breaths of fresh air.
Feeling lost? Place your hand on your heart and whisper a kind word to yourself.
Or come to the mat. That’s what we’re here for at Onward Light. Each posture becomes a mirror. Each breath, a thread leading back to yourself. I’ll be there to guide you, just as I guided myself — not with perfection, but with steady care.
You don’t have to be fixed or ready. You just have to arrive.
Come exactly as you are.
With love,
Serena