Do you ever have those days, or even periods in life, where you feel a bit… stuck? Maybe it’s a feeling of being caught in a routine that no longer serves you, or a sense of mental fog, or perhaps a physical sensation of stiffness and resistance. It’s a common human experience. Life has its ebbs and flows, and sometimes we find ourselves in a place where the current feels sluggish, or like we’re gently bumping up against a hidden dam.
For me, one of the most beautiful aspects of a yoga practice is how it teaches us to find, or rediscover, a sense of flow – not just on the mat, but in the way we navigate our lives. This isn’t about forcing things or pushing through obstacles with sheer will. It’s more subtle than that. It’s about cultivating an inner suppleness, a willingness to explore different pathways, and an ability to meet resistance with curiosity rather than frustration.
Think about water. Water is the ultimate master of flow. It doesn’t fight against a rock in its path; it simply finds a way around it, over it, or through its tiniest crevices. It adapts, it yields, and yet it continues on its journey. In our yoga practice, we can learn to embody some of this watery wisdom.
When we come to our mat, we might encounter “stuck places” in our own bodies. Perhaps a hip feels tight, or a shoulder feels restricted. Our first instinct might be to try and power through it, to force the opening. But what if, instead, we approached it like water? What if we breathed into the area, gently exploring the edges of the sensation? What if we tried a slightly different angle, a softer approach? Often, when we meet these places with patience and gentle persistence, they begin to yield, little by little. We find a new pathway, a small release, a trickle of movement where before there was only stillness.
This physical experience of finding flow around a “stuck” spot has a powerful echo in our minds and emotions. When we feel mentally stuck – perhaps wrestling with a problem or caught in a loop of worry – the tendency can be to tense up, to try and think our way out of it with more effort. But yoga teaches us another way. It teaches us to pause, to breathe, to soften the mental grip. Just like we might soften our shoulders in a pose, we can learn to soften our attachment to a particular thought or outcome.
This doesn’t mean giving up. It means creating a little more space around the problem, allowing for new perspectives to emerge. Sometimes, the most insightful solutions arise not when we’re actively struggling, but when we allow ourselves a moment of quiet, of simply being. The breath, once again, is our anchor. A few conscious breaths can interrupt a cycle of anxious thinking and bring us back to a place of greater calm and clarity. From this clearer place, new options often become visible.
I often speak about how, in my work, I hope for people to feel that they “have options, always.” This feeling is the antithesis of being stuck. When we feel stuck, it’s often because we can only see one way forward, or no way forward at all. Yoga, through its varied movements and its emphasis on awareness, continually reminds us of the multiplicity of possibilities. If one way of moving doesn’t feel right, there’s always another. If one thought pattern is causing distress, we can learn to gently shift our focus.
This translates beautifully into daily life. Perhaps you’re facing a challenging conversation. Instead of going in with a rigid script, can you approach it with a sense of open curiosity, ready to listen and adapt, like water flowing around obstacles? Or maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed by a long to-do list. Can you take a moment to breathe, to find a small point of ease, and then approach one task at a time, rather than being paralyzed by the whole?
Finding flow isn’t about life suddenly becoming effortless or free of challenges. Challenges are part of the human journey. It’s about changing our relationship to those challenges. It’s about developing an inner resilience, a flexibility of mind and body that allows us to navigate the complexities with a little more grace and a little less resistance. It’s about trusting that even when things feel stuck, there is always a subtle current of movement, a possibility for a shift, if we can only quiet ourselves enough to perceive it.
So, if you’re feeling stuck in some area of your life, perhaps a gentle yoga practice could be an invitation to explore. Not to force a solution, but to cultivate the inner conditions where flow becomes possible again – one breath, one small movement, one moment of curious attention at a time.
May you find your gentle current,
Inge
