or: Is it possible to over-visualise? Is that even a word? 

One of the 974 things I like about traveling is the opportunity to try new things. It can lead to some life changes, interesting stories, improved health, other opportunities, widening my social circle as well as the obvious –  learning more about the environment I am in and the people in it. There’s probably a few other things too but this is all that springs to mind at the moment.

I’ve been experimenting with yoga.

I have realised that while my mind is flexible, my body is not and I want to improve in this area. As a sometime runner and a consistently poor / inconsistent stretcher, my lack of flexibility is no surprise. This is one of the areas that really impacts people as they age. It’s not too late for anyone to develop flexibility and now is the time for me.

In the beginning (start of March), I was like a piece of uncooked spaghetti. I was told that progress would be obvious and I have been eager to become overcooked spaghetti. I’m not there yet. Al dente is not the goal. I want to be able to rest my head against my knees while standing or seated without bending my legs.

At this stage, I’m a piece of raw spaghetti that has just been just put in boiling water so the end starts to curl while the end that is yet to hit the water is still sticking out of the pot and raw. If you then take that spaghetti out of the pot so the raw bit is at the bottom and it’s now the top of it curling a little (i.e. you’re holding the spaghetti by the uncooked portion so you don’t burn your hands), that’s me at the moment touching my toes. Only I have hair and am wearing clothes. And I’m not in your hand.

On Saturday, I attended my first yoga retreat. It covered yoga, nutrition, breathing and meditation. They also fed us breakfast and lunch.

My head finally touched my knees in child’s pose! That’s a monumental amount of progress for me even though it is only two inches of space from my head to my knees in that pose. Baby steps seems appropriate for this move.

I’ve also realised that meditation using visualisation is likely to be more useful if I focus less on the practical aspects of what I’m being guided to visualise.

With our eyes closed and while seated, we were asked to imagine ourselves walking toward the carpark and to get into any vehicle that takes our fancy. It didn’t have to be a vehicle that was already parked there. We were told we could create new transport. I didn’t have to be told twice so when I pictured the carpark, it included a silver disc-shaped spaceship with a lot of blinking lights in blues, reds and whites, and a gold and diamond encrusted carriage (picture a Cinderella-type contraption) drawn by a white horse and a white one with brown spots. They were both beautiful horses though I’m not sure of their names…

If I had known what was to happen to the horses, I would have chosen the spaceship.

We were told to really look and feel inside the vehicle we’d stepped into, the colours, the seating. My carriage had red velvet seating and while it clashed a bit with the top I was wearing, I didn’t think it mattered as it felt nice under my skin and I could ignore the colour clash. It was tempered somewhat by the candles burning in the crystal candelabras hanging from the sides of the carriage. It even had a little minibar for the journey. I could draw the heavy cream and gold embroidered curtains closed if I wanted to but for now, I left them open, tied with the gold rope, as it was such a nice day out.

That was also to change.

The vehicles then began moving. Our instructor had us imagine our vehicles spinning, faster and faster as they then moved us into the future.

I was now near the middle of a tornado.

Before I arrived at the first point in the future, I needed to put blinkers on my horses as I was worried they would be getting dizzy. I quickly considered getting out of the carriage and fitting them myself but had a bit of concern about falling off so added them in my mind’s eye and that seemed to be good enough. Dizzy horses averted. Somehow they also dodged all the other vehicles flying around there and the Wicked Witch of the West on her broomstick.

I was then a bit worried that perhaps my carriage was spinning a little too fast and I’d be thrown against the side as though I was on the Graviton or that I’d be thrown out the window and land somewhere like Munchkin Land which would be interesting though a little sad to be there without my own dog. Would shutting the windows and curtains prevent all of this? I wasn’t leaving it to chance so I closed them both. I turned on the radio so I could no longer hear the ferocious wind.

We were asked to picture a particular point of time in the future and to land there.

I landed, explored there for a bit as instructed and hopped back into my carriage to then do all of this in reverse. I made sure I had the carriage windows closed and the blinkers were still on my horses.

After the end of the sessions, I spoke to the instructor about this and my struggle with the horses. She seemed surprised but then understood my point. It is difficult to relax properly when you’ve been asked to imagine something that could then be in a bit of trouble as a result of imaging them in the first place.

My key takeaway from all of this is, when there are transport choices to be made, always take the spaceship.

I also need to get a wriggle on with making a teleporter. It would have been the fastest option and no chance of dizziness or need to decorate.

Now to find a whiteboard and some minions…

* Thanks to U2 for the title to this post.