29/05/2026
Surrender is probably one of the most misunderstood ideas in yoga.
It isn’t giving up.
It isn’t becoming passive.
And it certainly isn’t accepting things that need changing.
It’s noticing how much energy we spend fighting reality.
The traffic.
The weather.
The conversation that didn’t go as planned.
The body that won’t move the way we want it to.
So often our suffering doesn’t come from what is happening.
It comes from our insistence that it should be different.
In yoga, surrender is the practice of softening that resistance.
Not losing our strength.
Not abandoning our values.
Simply learning when to stop gripping so tightly.
Doug Keller uses the image of an ice cube floating in a stream.
The ice cube is made of the same water as the stream, yet it remains frozen in its own rigid shape.
Our practice is not to become something new.
It is to melt.
To soften the unnecessary tension, fear, and need for control that keeps us separate from the flow of life.
Where in your life might you be gripping a little too tightly right now?
