Wood

Wood is Sunstone's resistance stretching class. In my favorite class, we increase flexibility and range of motion in our bodies by strengthening weak areas.

Wood class is confusing to get into. First of all, it's not pretty. The expansive Dancing Shiva and Standing Bow are replaced by the carnivorous Strong Warrior Spine Twist. A room full of arched backs and bent knees and elbows are reflected back at the full expression of each pose. An instructor reminds us to return to moderate effort when we feel our more experienced muscle groups taking up the slack or when our bodies no longer resemble gargoyles. This result is an hour of muscle confusion and psychological disorientation.

I had rocky relationships with my joints before my first round of training. Health care and the service industries are filled with knee-lockers like myself. We found a sweet spot long ago where our bones stack on top of each other and leave our standing support to the quads and a few unfortunate tendons and ligaments. These tissues were screaming after two days of lunging Warriors and squatting Awkwards. Wednesday of week one was my first Wood. Thursday morning I stepped out of bed as I had since Monday, bracing for painful impact. When I stood on both legs without pain, my understanding of my body and maybe even my life had changed.

When we show up for life we have opportunities to break patterns everyday. The patterns we have the hardest time parting with are usually the ones that are most convenient, but not necessarily the most beneficial. We each have manifested clear definitions of strengths that we like to use to threaten to our weaknesses into hiding. 

Popular fitness emphasizes the six pack abdominals, the biceps, the triceps, pectorals, and the gluteus to the virtual exclusion of their synergists or even the reciprocity between them. In dominant culture we emphasize our prime moves to the exclusion of all else. Sex appeal and money are agonists that we return to again and again to avoid the challenges that aren't always pretty, the cues that are unclear, and the effects that are inconceivable.

Wood immediately conjures the words strength and stability, but there is more to this form. A tree is still, but its composition is incredibly versatile. Irrevocably tied to the earth and fire, trees are a constant reminder of the unpredictable dynamics of growth in this strange world of ours.

Your spirit has uses and expressions that you can not imagine. This is not an empty promise or encouragement set sometime in the irrefutable future, this is right now. Every person contributes the full expression of humanity whether the role is prime mover, synergist, or antagonist. Weaknesses are not enemies, and opposition is part of the journey to true strength.

A special thanks to my sweet Eagles and teachers for moving with me.

 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18