"No Mistakes"

On Monday, I attended a Bikram yoga for the first time in a long time (Let's just say that the 20 visit punch pass I bought over 3 years ago still had 5 visits remaining!) and it felt fantastic.  I find Yoga to be an amazing way to connect mind, body and spirit - once you actually get your body to the studio!

When I worked as a personal trainer, I used to recommend yoga to my clients.  I remember one client in particular, who shared her initial yoga experience with me.  She felt that the class she attended felt far too serious and strict.  She shared with me that there were times during the class when the teacher and students would say "No Mistakes" in a slow drawn out way that almost seemed trance-like.  This seemed very strange to me, as it has never been my experience, but as we continued to talk about the class, a light bulb turned on and I asked her "Are you sure they weren't saying 'Namaste'?"  She wasn't sure, but fortunately decided to try the class a second time and the next time I saw her she confirmed for me that the class was in fact saying "Namaste" and not "No Mistakes."  Oh, how we laughed!  Her experience of the class was completely different the second time around as she understood the word "Namaste" instead of believing she was in a yoga class where mistakes were not permitted!

Lesson learned?  Despite having a less-than-perfect experience, learning to stay open and willing to try something a second time, may create the perfect opportunity to have a completely different (and more positive!) experience.  It sure did for my client in this case.  Namaste.