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This weekly column is inspired by students and news trends that remind us to “spill the tea” on what’s good. Shout out to Solutions Journalism, Fix the News, Good News Movement, and My Unsung Hero - check them out.
The goal is to practice seeing and spreading the good - looking for positive stories to balance out all the negative ones or finding a positive kernel in what seems like a bad or negative event. Building a practice of finding positivity is not about being naive or avoiding tough times - it’s about reminding ourselves that life can be hard, uncertain, and even unfair sometimes and resilience is fueled by hope and confidence built through action.
by: Dr. Boehner
date: Sept 15, 2025
I started doing yoga 3 years ago. The studio I joined has a very set sequence including about 5 minutes of Sun Salutation A.
If you don’t do yoga, a "Sun A" is reaching to the sky, touching the floor, getting into a push up position, doing said push up, shifting into a mini back bend and then end with a pike up into “down dog.” I vividly remember hating this flow and actually getting angry that we did this not once, but 8 or 10 times in a row.
“What a stupid idea”, I thought.
I realize getting angry during yoga is counter intuitive and counter productive. But I was super annoyed. Two or three times, fine. But ten? C'mon! What are you trying to prove?! Boring. Let’s move on.
Last night, I realized that I actually like doing Sun Salutations now. I don’t remember when the shift happened, but I look forward to the process and the 10th one seems to come faster than I expect.
I’m by no means a yogi master but I do think that part of my initial frustration was that the movement was unfamiliar. I didn’t know what that phrase “match your breath to movement” meant so even though the instructor said it over and over, it went in one ear and out the other. I didn’t realize that tiny little shifts in alignment could make a big difference. I didn’t know what I was doing so I didn’t see the point in doing it. But then, eventually, I did. Something clicked.
I’m trying to apply this insight outside of yoga. Where am I frustrated just because it's uncomfortable? Where can I apply discipline to push myself in new directions and patience to wait for results?
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