Kimberlee K.

I have written about yoga multiple times on my blog (here and here), especially Yoga with Adriene, who I found during the pandemic and has been a cozy internet friend ever since.

As I continue to practice, I continue to find new lessons in it.

The other day, I was doing a flow practice that moves you up and down, from your feet to your belly and then back up again. At one point you stand in a forward fold—which is essentially a hinge at your hips as you reach for your toes—and then you take a deep breath and stand up straight, your hands reaching towards the sky.

“Root to rise,” Adriene says as she cues you to raise your arms.

I have heard her say this so many times, and yet, for some reason, this time it hit me in a new way.

Root to rise.

It is meant to encourage you to steady yourself in your feet, to use your core to lift you up, to focus first on your foundation as you move into the next posture. But it can also be utilized beyond yoga.

It is easy to get caught up in our quests for more and make desperate reaches towards something new. It is easy to feel impatient for progress and find pockets of resentment for seeming stagnancy in our day to day lives.

I know I’ve woken up some days wanting to radically change everything because I think it will make me feel better or, at the very least, make me feel like I’m doing something. But there is such value in finding a foundation, in learning the rhythms and routines that serve our body and mind, in just existing in the day to day that, at times, might seem boring. This doesn’t mean we turn our heads away from progress, or refuse to take risks, dream big, or find success, it just means we value what we have at the same time as striving for what we hope to have.

We root in our foundation, grateful for all it has given us and continues to give us, and we reach for more.

Root to rise.

Find out where your feet are and then take another step.

Root to rise.

Embrace the blessings around you and then daydream about the wonders left to find.

Root to rise.

Don’t shy away from the slow, methodical work, it will always be more satisfying than the quick and desperate lunges for instant gratification.

Root to rise.

Realize that you have the ground beneath you and trust that you have the ability to grow.