My friend Michael Thompson and I had just finished a hot yoga class and he said "that was the best one ever"; mostly because he was able to keep up with the poses and he enjoyed the music. I couldn’t disagree. We were both spent in a good way, exercised in mind and body and ready to guzzle our bottled waters, eat an apple and head to the deli to split a BLT.
My wife had purchased a new yoga mat for me last week. It was the first time I had used it and it seemed to work well. Truthfully, I was perfectly content with the old blue one I was using, but kate said that it was ten years old and worn out; time for a new mat. I chose not to argue with a true yogi; one who has been practicing for 15 years and had owned her own studio.
This new mat had a springy and spongy quality to it. I didn’t notice so much during the session, but I did notice when I went to roll it up at the end class. I started rolling at my right, and when I got about half of the mat rolled, it was all wonky and way too bulky to finish rolling that way. I started over, and re-rolled the mat, but as I got ¾ of the way to the other end, and the same thing happened. I presumed that a yogi worth his salt at least knew how to roll his mat in a tight and even roll (no matter how bad his poses might have been). I undid the roll and tried a third time. This time I took care to really focus on getting that first roll nice and tight and square, so that all the other rolls would be in line and the result would be a tight, even wrap of my mat. “Ta-Da!” I thought to myself, as I successfully accomplished a tightly rolled mat (on my third try). I collected my towels, blocks and straps and other yoga accoutrements that I had used the past 75 minutes. And then I laughed at myself (and my self laughed back) as several thoughts washed over me.
My first thought was "if you don’t have time to do it right the first time, when will you have time to do it again?" I chuckled. That is so true. Then I heard my wife’s father sharing "any job worth doing is worth doing right.” Fortunately, I wasn’t in a hurry, so I had time to roll my mat three times without any anxiety, but I am sure if I were in a hurry my attitude might not have been so philosophical!
My mind continued with a ‘note to self’ thought; "do you see that the first roll is the most important one because it sets the entire process?" That seemed pretty deep to me. It was so simple, yet profound. There was no way my mat would roll up as intended if I didn’t get that first roll just right. I wondered how many other things there are in life that I try to force together and shove into places where they don’t fit, merely because I didn’t take the time and pay attention to the required level of detail, focusing on that proverbial first roll. I wondered.
I thought about that in terms of my children, and particularly the ones I call K3, which stands for Kate’s three; being Leo, Ella and Jordan, all under 6 years old. How important is it for their lives - to really pay attention and do a good job of getting that first roll; and for these first few rolls in their life to get started in the right direction. If we can do that, the rest of the process in life could be so much easier. And if we don’t get these first years started well, then the rolls ahead could be more difficult.
My mind then wandered from there to a conversation I had with Coach Steve Wilson of the book THE QB MENTOR. The other day he was telling me how important the last year of class had been to several of his young quarterbacks, including my son Shawn, who is still rehabbing his knee in hopes to play this season at Vanderbilt University. Coach said that it was vital that the players all started with a strong foundation; a working and conversant knowledge of the science of football, otherwise they would not be able to reach their full potential as a player. I thought to myself, "their first roll…."
All of these thoughts inspired by a new yoga mat… and three attempts at getting that "perfect" roll.
I guess the lesson for all of us is to pay attention to our first roll in all we do.
Amen and AMEN.