Are You Ready to be Strong?

“Power can be nurtured from without. But its roots must be within.”

— Aluwyn, The Saga Vasuki (Willow: Wonderland / BTVS sn9)⠀⠀⠀

Power can be found in the most unusual of places, but the most enduring sources are the ones we find within ourselves. I remember having disagreements with one of my karate instructors during grad school, about sources of strength and power. He used to say to the class that we weren’t as strong as we thought we were so we needed to strengthen ourselves in the hottest fire (the strongest blade forged in the hottest fire metaphor). All well and good for challenging us to go beyond the superficial ego, but I respectfully disagreed on a deeper level — instead advocating that we’re actually stronger than we think.

Perhaps it was my internal resistance to being told most of my life I was physically and emotionally weaker than others, that belief in my own strength was egoistic and arrogant, that pursuit of ambitions and personal joys was selfish, etc., but I feel it was my belief in the opposite that allowed me to eventually leave the only life I'd ever known (academia / science) to pursue a life I always wanted to live, a life of purpose, bringing joy and healing to others through the medium of the physical body. In my younger years, I wanted that to be via dance performance, but that dream evolved into the teaching of yoga and eventually opening a studio.

There’s layers to this concept of inner strength, of course, like an onion or more appealing to the taste buds... a cinnamon roll. There’s the classic glaze, the outer most layer that shows a brave face to the world, that rises up when there are somewhat challenging but not necessarily insurmountable obstacles. Beneath that, there’s a just crispy enough layer of self-doubt, unfounded fear that we’re weak and incapable of achieving whatever it is we strive to accomplish. Most people stop there, thinking this roll is overbaked and nothing good is beneath this crust so I'll just live in the superficial sugary glaze. As much as I love icing, I prefer to excavate a little deeper. To that warm, cinnamony center beneath the perfectly baked dough of doubt. This gooey cinnamon center is where true strength dwells — hidden beneath the doubt, depression, imposter syndrome, and self-flagellation — only to be discovered when it truly matters. We nurture the surface layer, we work to bury the middle layer, yet if we can face the middle layer of doubt, the roots of our power can be nourished. When we tap into that power, our life becomes a delicious discovery of depth where we can enjoy the entirety of the experience without getting stuck in the interstice, the middle layer, the space in between sugary satisfaction and gooey goodness.

“So here's the part where you make a choice. What if you could have that power, now? […] From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power, can stand up, will stand up. Slayers... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?”

Sending you much love and cinnamon buns,

- Sara