Being a Beginner Again

The first week in March I took a trip to Barbados. This small island nation in the Caribbean is formally a British colony. Therefore, they drive on the left side of the road while sitting on the right side of the car. And, given this change, I had the experience of being a beginner again. I’ve been driving for a little over three decades and it has become second nature. There’s an unconscious competence that comes with doing something for so long. That competence becomes hardwired in the brain.

Here’s an excerpt from my blog a couple of days into my vacation where I tried to convey how intense driving was:

“I don’t know how to convey how intense the driving is. The roads are narrow and the whole sense of the width of the vehicle driving while sitting on the right side of the car is totally off, which is tricky when driving on the left side of the road. I keep looking right to look in the rear view mirror, but it’s still in the middle of the car, which means looking left. Left hand turns are easy and the right hand turns are the hard ones, it being necessary to watch for oncoming traffic. And, the round-abouts go clockwise (left). The gear shift is still in the middle of the vehicle (thankfully, it’s an automatic), but the wipers are where I am used to having the turn signal and the turn signal lever is where I am used to having the wipers. So, the first day (and many subsequent ones) I used the lever for the wipers to signal turning.”

It was quickly apparent that I was a beginning driver again. And, with that came a level of frustration and fear. With practice each day while driving, I could feel those three decades of hardwiring becoming untangled and re-wired. Before I went to and while I was in Barbados, I used visualization to help rewire my brain by thinking about making left hand turns. When I was on the island, before I fell asleep, I tried to just visualize using the turn signal, imagining using my right hand, pushing it up for left, down for right (instead of the wiper lever).

I love these experiences that allow me to be a beginner again. It gives me an appreciation of what it’s like for the beginning students in my 6 PM Thursday night class at The Yoga Space. New to the subject of yoga, the poses are unfamiliar to the students and take re-wiring. Sometimes, they can be frustrating because they are unfamiliar or physically out of reach. New to anything, practice helps whatever the subject get easier and easier (although, not necessarily easy), just like it did for me driving on the left side of the road, sitting on the right side of the car. And just like making a turn in an unfamiliar car, on the opposite side of the road, I had to learn to break down the steps (how to signal, which ways to look for traffic, etc) and that’s what it takes sometimes in yoga to do a pose. We break it down into bite sized pieces and then put it all together again, in search of the ‘classic pose’. And sometimes, when the classic pose is out of reach, we use props to make the pose accessible. And other times we use visualization to get us there.

What was most surprising to me was my first day back on the road upon my return to the US. At the first corner, my brain couldn’t sort out which lever to use to signal. So, I didn’t. At the second corner, I just went for it … and the windshield wipers went on. It took yet another turn before my brain returned to the old wiring and used the correct lever to signal my turn.

Each week one of the teachers at the Yoga Space shares her thoughts and experiences in this blog. This week Pam Lindberg shares what it is like to be a beginner again. She teaches a beginning yoga class Thursdays at 6 PM at The Yoga Space, a yoga studio just east of Dexter serving Saline, Chelsea, Manchester and Ann Arbor.  We have been helping people with their flexibility, strength, focus and stress management for over 14 years. We offer a free class the last Friday of each month from 6-7 pm. 180 Little Lake Dr #1 Ann Arbor, MI, 48103. www.yogaspaceannarbor.com 734-622-9600