Getting Permission

As an empowering coach, it might seem like a strange thing to talk about getting permission.  However, one of the principles I use in coaching is to start where you are at and sometimes we what we need in a moment isn’t necessarily our ideal but is still our reality.  And so it can be with needing permission.

When I talk about getting permission I am not speaking about the mutual respect we show each other in our relationships when planning schedules or even about seeing if it’s ok to make a large purchase within the family budget.  I’m referring to needing a source of external permission to confirm a need or belief within yourself.

I ran up against this scenario myself about a month ago in regards to how I hold my daily yogic practice.  If you’ve been reading my blog or receiving my E-zine, you likely know that I went through a period of examination around what my yoga practice “should” look like.  I have “should” in there because I picked up an expectation during my Yoga Teacher Training about what the ideal or even “good” yoga practice should be.  It took me a couple years to realize that the expectation wasn’t mine, that I had a choice around whether I wanted to agree with it, and that I needed to see what I wanted and felt right for me.

The final piece of my yoga exploring journey, at least for this time, came during a conversation I had with an Ayurvedic Practitioner I was working with.  This person is trained in yoga as well as its sister science, Ayurveda.  In talking to her about balance and releasing an old pattern, my yoga explorations came up.  She essentially echoed the idea that we all need different things at different times and that the path of listening to my needs and deciding what yoga to do each day was perfect.  Now, I already knew this inside of myself, but somehow I needed that external reflection or permission to really accept what I knew.  I may not like that I needed this from someone else, but for whatever reason, I did.  And with that final piece, came peace.  I was able to truly let go of the big external expectation and follow my truth.

This was a great reminder to me that I really benefit at times from external support and perspectives in balance with my own truth and input.   And that, ultimately, only I have the power to receive or accept the permission even if it is given externally.