This past week was one that saw a new record set at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club-Wimbledon. For us tennis fans, it was an amazing feat, as American, John Isner and Frenchman, Nicholas Mahut engaged in an ultra marathon of a match that spanned three days and lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes.
Being a tennis player, albeit currently sidelined, it was this freak anomaly in that the longest match I’ve ever played lasted over 3 1/2 hours, and the longest one I or anyone else ever witnessed wasn’t even close to the Isner-Mahut epic.
And what does this have to do with yoga?
Well…everything! We so often view yoga as a series of poses, some seemingly impossible or often ridiculous that we by-pass the thread that holds it all together. Breath and staying focused. The historical tennis match was a complete metaphor for staying present. When Mahut was asked how did he manage to keep coming from behind to hold his serve he replied, “I only thought about winning that game. The next point. That’s it”.
Both players needed to stay fully present to keep playing into a 70-68 fifth set final decision. If either of them projected themselves into what might happen in the future, or contemplated their past errors for more than a nano second, the seam would have been opened wide enough for the match to be just another “ordinary” match at one of the world’s greatest tournaments.
Instead, each player stayed focused on what they needed to do in each moment. At the end of the second day of suspended play, they both had to go and focus on recovery through hydration, rest, nourishment and relaxation before picking up the thread yet again and resuming the match.
If we, as yoga practitioners can gleam just one lesson from this tennis match it’s to step fully into what you are currently doing. That’s it.
Beyond that, the other interesting impression is that after John Isner won and returned to play in his next match, his tanks were empty both mentally and physically and he lost. What that tells me, is that we often don’t know how far we can push ourselves. We have tremendous potential to undertake seemingly impossible tasks and challenges. And to continue to do so…we need to honor the process of healing, recovery and nourishing our physical and emotional selves so that our spirits can continue to soar.
