How learning to plank taught me compassionate living | Khadija Muhaisen | TEDxArarStreetWomen
my hope today is to change the way you view plank pose forever in actual fact I I secretly want you to think of me every time you get into plank and honestly I even don't mind my name to be associated with any profanity that comes to mind when you're in challenging positions so bear with me for a minute because sometimes I sound random and this is definitely going to sound very random hopefully it'll make sense to at the end there's very few things I remember from school thanks to conventional education and do not tell my kids but I do remember some things I studied in English literature class which was my favorite class there is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling called if and there's a line in the poem that says if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs this plays in the head I'm trying to keep up when I am in another random situation plank pose this very simple basic pose is not glamorous or sexy in any way and that's probably the reason why you don't see very many people posting pictures of themselves in plank on Instagram except of course for yours truly so he's real and this is a true story and he's really heavy so you're expected that the pose is you're basically trying to keep your body in a straight line distributing your weight evenly between the hands and the balls of the feet technically speaking it should be easier than standing up big on your two feet because you have a couple of extra limbs to carry you but for anyone who has tried this we know that this is far from the reality this is a very complex pose this is a challenging and very revealing pose it also happens to be very enlightening this is a pose that is great practice for standing up on your two feet and holding up the planet I consider myself a casual athlete I believe an athlete is a frame of mind that puts one in a space of self challenged you're continuously pushing the limits testing pushing and this process is never-ending because the limits keep moving as we move with with them in fact it's this very dynamism that makes us uniquely human we're pushing always pushing the comfort zone and then beyond the comfort zone what is special about this is that there's always wins there's always little victories every day that keep the dopamine flowing and us showing up the next day and these winds are not only physical because we're not only our gross bodies I remember I think it was on day 2097 of blank training and there's so many more when I absorbed every single cue my trainer was giving me I had been given those same cues for what felt like a decade but something shifted that day I for the first time in my life as I neared my edge struggling to keep my body my head and body up my mind of course in endless chatter there was a lot of profanity a hundred percent I experienced for a moment or two the sense of peace space and effortlessness yes there were angels and hallelujahs and then Kipling's poem in that order I felt like my body was aligning itself for the first time in my life and breath was flowing without interruptions also for the first time in my life it felt as if I was being held up by two opposing forces my heels anchored in the past the crown of my head flirting with the future as my body in between basked in the stillness of the present I for the first time as well I experienced this class of mine that I had only read about in books I saw my heels at the starting line of life's marathon so many known and unknown faces cheering blessings I had no conscious role in inviting into my life I saw daddy's girl curled up in my father's abaya having my bedtime feed nourished and bathed in unconditional love that passed my heels were anchored in was an extraordinary past that was lived in an ordinary existence much like the plank a modest upbringing that I know today taught me resilience and grit you see my launching pad was extraordinary in every way I doubt 46 years ago there anyone can say that they grew up even in the most advanced society in the world they can say that they grew up in a household of a stay-at-home father and a genius hard-working mother in a very small two-bedroom apartment in wave day and Amman Jordan an ordinary Arab girl with an extraordinary Muslim name was brought up by her military daddy an oxymoron in so many ways he made my breakfast he made my lunchbox for school he waited for me to come home from school and help me with homework he made rice for lunch and peeled oranges for dessert the smell of oranges still reminds me of him and it was this 11 year old girl who woke up one morning went up to her father and asked him to teach her to pray because she felt like this inside I have prayed every day since five times a day even when life seemed to be constantly testing my faith and discipline I learned recently that that's how habits are formed those stolen moments I took in prayer where my physical and spiritual bootcamp so this extraordinary ordinary past brought me to the starting line powered not by super foods brought me to the starting line of course with discipline and faith I mentioned that before powered not by super foods and supplements but by unconditional love so there I held my head in plank breath flowing playfully through my body it took decades for the path took here and it's still clearing it involved and continues to involve so much work and so many mistakes I can't even begin to tell you but discipline always helps me get up the thing is mid-race is not very glamorous there's no one watching you're on your own there's no where cheering or clapping but the power is in that stretch this is where power resides a phenomenal is a great phenomenal upbringing is a great head start I know and I share mine with you only to illustrate that we're all extraordinary in ordinary ways sometimes we need to change the lenses through which we view our lives even in adversity there's always an opportunity to learn to grow to heal it's up to us but it's mid-race where the magic is it's on this stretch that I recognize it is up to me to cultivate the ingredients I need in order to create space in my body so energy can flow once energy flows through the body the body is supported to function in its default condition the state we call well-being flexibility mobility and strength are the three ingredients for well-being in the body physically mentally and spiritually this is balanced I'm afraid we get this balance confused with the balance of another kind that sometimes involves us justifying our crush questionable choices with numbing techniques maybe of resorting to all sorts of food pharmaceuticals and vows to never sin again until we do does that sound familiar occasionally if we're lucky like I was in Frank 2097 one experiences the magic of alignment when you can hold your head forever the consciousness is awakened to the realization that in fact it is up to us every choice we make to create the space for energy to flow so that the body is supported to function as it is meant to support when I can hold my head I help my neighbor hold up hers when the choose I the food I choose to put an ax in my mouth nourishes me it nourishes the earth and all her inhabitants when energy flows through my body it flows through the rest of the world when I stay up everyone stays up and let me tell you how when you are in alignment you come to the realization that there are so many forces holding you up beyond the past and the future these strings are attached to the rest of the world this reminds me of another quotes in English literature class that says when one tugs at a single thing in nature he finds it attached to the rest of the world yes I promise you all this was going through my mind as I experienced grace in plank number 2097 compassionate living is the choice that recognizes we are in fact held up by strings attached to the earth and all her or all her inhabitants these strings thrive on our physical mental and spiritual balance every breath every word every thought every action every food we take in feeds those connections when I win everyone wins plan can be anything it can be a walk it can be a run it can be a swim it can be as a warrior 3 in yoga or it can even be an average ascent and yes it is physical we need to get into the physical body in order for us to clear any obstructions so that energy can flow through the body it takes discipline it takes faith it takes grit embodied and very small ordinary choices we take every day most definitely when no one is watching and once seemingly ordinary there as you hold your head you start exuding this power so that you lift the person next to you and then you take it into the world the power is in the present moment right now every choice you make will create this reality will shape your future and can heal your past Rudyard Kipling was telling his son if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you dot dot dot you are a man my son I am here to tell every man and woman who will hear me when you keep your head you help the earth and all her inhabitants keep tears when you brighten your lights you light up the world thank you [Applause]