It's Complicated

Most of my blog posts are about making things easy.

Like here.

Or here.

And here.

Well, this post is about honoring the complicated.

Honor the complicated.

As you all know, I’ve been doing some work on my website (looks nice, right?) and working on improving my search engine optimization.

One suggestion to improve search engine results is to adjust the readability of text based on sentence length and the number of syllables per word used.

Have you ever heard of the Flesch reading ease scale? Well until now, I definitely had not. This scale analyzes the complexity of writing. Short sentences and only a few two-syllable words are recommended for improving your search engine results. Conversely, long sentences full of five-dollar words are discouraged.

The review of my past blog posts indicates that I need to simplify my writing. Essentially, make this stuff easy enough for a 10-year old to read and understand.

Given that my audience, all of you dear readers, are most certainly NOT 10-year olds, this seems like a strange standard. Know what I mean?

Look, I’m all for clarity and simplicity. Yet sometimes yoga—AND LIFE—just isn’t that simple or clear. One of my first yoga teachers, Moses Brown, always used to say “yoga is simple but it’s not easy.”

Many times it’s not simple or easy!

In fact, things are pretty dang complicated.

As more and more adults are getting vaccinated and the world has begun to reopen, I feel alternatively hopeful and caught up. I’m delighted to be fully vaccinated now.

But what about my two youngest kids who aren’t eligible?

What about the folks who are choosing not to get vaccinated for whatever reasons?

What about the new strains of the virus?

Should we really go back into our crowded yoga studios?

I definitely don’t have the answers to these complicated choices. I mean, I’m barely willing to make my website text readable for a 15-year old!

Three things are clear.

These three things I can say with absolute clarity and certainty:

1. Some of my yoga teaching will stay online. As long as you keep coming to my live-streaming classes, I will keep teaching in this format.
   

2. Keep showing up for yourself in your yoga practice and do the work. If something doesn’t feel right, maybe the practice isn’t right. The reason it doesn’t feel right might be complicated but looking for a different path or option can be simple.
   

3. In-person classes and events that I teach will be small.

I’m currently teaching an in-person class per week on Tuesdays at 10:15 am at Blue Heron Wellness. Attendance is limited to 11 people to maintain space. Pre-registration and proof of vaccination is required. Masks are required in the center, though you can take off your mask when you are on your mat. Register to attend.

I used to take 20+ people to Blue Mountain Retreat Center four times per year. We’d live together for the weekend, sharing space and props. But this July’s retreat has room for 11 participants. There is one more spot available in a private room. Would you like to join us? Read about and sign up for the retreat.

What have I learned?

Ultimately this exercise in seeking ease on my website has been an interesting experiment. It’s pushed me to find ways to be more clear.

I’ve also found places where I just don’t want to make things simple. Because complicated things are a very real part of life AND yoga.

If you are interested in reading more about our dance with complexity and simplicity, check out this fascinating blog post about complexity bias.