Roots First

“I’m not flexible… so I don’t do yoga.”

I’ve heard this so many times.

And maybe I never said those exact words.

But the feeling underneath them… I know that one well.

The feeling that everyone else already has something you don't.

That somehow, you're already behind before you've even started.

Have you ever felt left behind?

Behind your career.

Behind your goals.

Or just… behind others.

We look around and it feels like everybody is doing "it" better.

Faster.

More put together.

And then comes the question you don’t want to ask yourself:

Am I just not good enough?

I felt that when I first started yoga.

My family had always been into it. I wasn’t.

I was fairly active. Fairly comfortable in my own skin.

But that first session...

The people around me looked effortless.

They flowed through poses with ease.

Flexible. Controlled. Calm. Content.

And I was nowhere close.

Not even remotely.

I was just trying to survive the class.

Follow along. Thinking too much how they look at my flow.

Hoping the next pose would be a little easier.

It wasn’t.

I was exhausted. Physically. Mentally.

And quietly… comparing myself to everyone in the room.

But I had already paid for a month.

So I had to go back.

Somewhere in those early sessions, an instructor said something I don't forget:

“Your body opens when it’s ready… not when your ego wants it to.”

That landed well. 

Because it’s not just about yoga.

It’s about everything.

Your ego wants progress now.

Immediately.

Visibly.

Now.

But your body doesn’t work like that, life doesn't work like that. Not on your demanded schedule.

As a culture, we’ve turned growth into a race.

We compare timelines.

Rush outcomes.

And if we’re not there yet, we not only compare ourselves with others but also we assume something is wrong with us, our efforts, inisde.

But growth isn't a linear path.

Some days you see progress.

Some days… you don’t.

And those invisible days are the hardest.

But they might also be the most important.

Think about a large, old tree...

When you look at one, what do you see?

Trunk. Branches. Leaves. Maybe fruit.

What you don’t see is the root system underneath.

Which is often just as large as or even larger than the tree above.

The same branching structure. The same complexity.

But buried in cold, dark, stony ground.

Pushing through gravel.

Through tight soil.

Through whatever gets in the way.

Those roots don’t show.

But without them, nothing above the surface survives.

There’s a cypress tree in Iran called Sarv-e Abarkuh, near city of Yazd. In the middle of the desert.

And it is estimated to be around four to five thousand years old.

It was there when Cyrus the Great built one of the world’s first empires.

It stood through Alexander’s conquest of Persia.

It watched the Sasanian kings rise and fall.

It survived the Arab invasion on a civilization that had its own ancient faith, Zoroastrianism. 

It endured the Mongol armies that leveled entire cities across the region.

Wars. Invasions. Empires built and buried.

Rulers, eras and religions came and went.

And through all of it… this tree just stood there.

Alone. Ancient. Still.

Everything around it dry and barren.

And yet, it stays alive.

The only explanation that makes sense to me:

Its roots go deeper than anything around it.

Deep enough to find water where nothing else can.

Deep enough that no storm, no era, no century could bring it down.

That’s what those quiet, invisible days are.

Root days.

The days when nothing looks like it’s changing…

Are often the days something important is being built underneath.

So if you’re in that season right now.

In yoga. In your career. In anything.

Ask yourself something simpler than am I good enough:

Am I still showing up?

Am I still learning?

Am I still in it?

Because if the answer is yes…

You’re not behind.

You’re just building roots.

And that brings me back to where we started.

“I’m not flexible… so I don’t do yoga.”

It’s actually the other way around.

We don’t do yoga because we’re flexible.

We do yoga… so we become flexible.

That’s not a yoga thing.

That’s how growth works.

You don’t wait until you’re ready.

You show up until you are.