Genetics play a huge role in our bodies and their natural abilities. We can diet, exercise, use as many Instagram filters as we desire, but ultimately we have to work with what our mama gave us. It’s encouraging to note that we can somewhat alter our genes through diet and lifestyle. Scientific research is proving this to be so.
I learned this fun fact through a friend of mine who is married to a geneticist, a doctor, and an author. No, she’s not having an affair with three different men, she’s married to one amazing man whose intellectual prowess makes me nervous to string together words when I’m in his presence. Thankfully, his intellect is matched only by his heart and warm compassion. He hit the genetic jackpot.
One evening, my buddy asked me over to share dinner with her and her brilliant hubby. She’s no slouch either – currently pursuing her PhD in the much needed evolution of geriatric care. In walks me; little ol’ yoga teacher with an impressive Bachelors in psychology, a stunning background in Netflix documentaries, and the natural gifting to easily touch my toes. What I love most about my two brainy friends, I never feel intimidated or talked down to. They are the kind of folks who dive into the world of learning because they unabashedly love it and naturally crave to know more. Not only that, they want to know more so they can help others.
Context: At the time of this dinner I had been reading the husband’s New York Times best selling book “Inheritance” which talks about genetic make-up, its influence in our day to day life, how we can alter our genes, and how studying the weirdest, most rare forms of genetic disorders can crack open so many mysteries for things as common as a cold. In the second chapter of this book, he describes how he finds it impossible to have dinner parties without analyzing the guests for genetic oddities. This man has the ability to watch you eat soup and by the end of that bowl, be able to tell you things about you and your parents you haven’t even told your best friend.
I was trying to act normal knowing his habit for decoding guests, but he found out my oddity within the first 15 minutes of me sitting down at the table.
“Can you touch your thumb to your wrist?” he asked suddenly.
I tried, “Almost.”
“Do you bruise easily?” he continued.
“Like a peach!” I confessed.
“What about your mother? Does she bruise easily as well? Is she quite flexible?”
“She really does, she really is!” I remembered my mother’s constant exasperation as she looked down at her legs in summer time shorts, usually yelling at a mystery bruise, “Where the heck did that one come from??” My mom, who is aging with grace, on command can fold in half like a cot.
“You have a milder form of a genetic make up someone would find in a contortionist” he concluded.
I blinked. “Come again?”
“Your natural flexibility, your propensity towards bruising, the fact that your mother has the same make up tells me you have a milder form of a genetic construct contortionists tend to inherit. You bruise easily because your skin and muscles are so flexible so basically you don’t bounce back or heal as quickly. You stay stretched out.”
Not only was I gobsmacked at the accuracy of his assessment, I was oddly reassured at my current career path as a yoga teacher – seeing as we are viewed as people who should be bendy.
Enter the purpose of this post – I’ve always been able to touch my toes, this does not make me “good at yoga”.
There is a common misconception that you must be flexible to be good at yoga. This is a myth worth debunking. If anything, coming to yoga already flexible can sometimes breed laziness in a person’s practice. If you can touch your toes easily, you tend not to engage your hamstrings to protect the insertion of the muscle at the sit bones. This leads to what is known as ‘the death of a thousand cuts’. This is a very dramatic phrase describing the tiny tears that occur in the hamstring every time you fold forward ultimately leading to deeper more permanent muscle tears. This is just one example of how super bendy people can end up hurting themselves if they are not taught to properly engage muscles just as much as they stretch them. Posture needs to be readjusted, and sometimes knees bent as they fold forward. Every body has different needs. This is a lesson I learned the hard way.
Confession: I am one of those super bendy people who hurt their hamstrings.
Too often I have conversations with new students who look at me with nervousness in their eyes as they confess, “I’m no good at yoga, I can’t even touch my toes!”
To which I reply “Great! You’re actually in a good place. It’s sometimes better to come to yoga less flexible. You have resistance in your body to work with. Strength and tension that can be stretched out but also maintained.”
Yoga isn’t just to make your body more bendy, it is a way of movement and life that ultimately changes you for the better, starting from the inside out. To wit; you can touch your toes and still be an a**hole. Even more of one because your butt is in the air.
When your practice starts to evolve, and you come to understand the roots of yoga and the intentions behind the postures, you realize that this practice is changing you into a better version of yourself. If you set your intentions accordingly, it really can heal you. The eight limbs of yoga help in this journey. If you’re unfamiliar with them, check out the link below. You’ll be so glad you did:
http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/the-eight-limbs/
My brilliant buddies are both amazing at yoga. Not so much in the asana sense, more so in the lifestyle sense. They both possess a hard won ability to appreciate the present moment, see what is in front of them putting aside drama, and dive into the information that is available. Afterwards, they use that knowledge to make the world around them a better place. They have devoted their lives to the care of others. But first they begin with betterment of self.
My friend’s brilliant husband isn’t super bendy and doesn’t pop up into handstand on command, but his life’s work is based on saving lives and diving into the deeper questions in life like,
“Why am I here? How can I make this a better place and make my life as well as others lives even more beautiful and fulfilling?”
So the next time you find yourself coveting the ability to touch your toes, rejoice in the fact that you have always possessed the amazing ability to touch someone’s heart.
