What Is Soft Is Strong.
Soften around your experience to find true strength no matter what. There’s a teacher in everything.
“As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”
One of the most profound things we learn over and over again in a mindfulness practice is how to soften around what’s difficult; to not resist our experience even though it can be painful and unpleasant.
History has shown us that this softer way of being is a worthy pursuit. Many of the world’s greatest leaders and thinkers embody this very quality: Mahatma Gandhi, Viktor Frankl, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Gautama Buddha immediately come to mind, but the overall list is quite long.
One of the lesser-known names who deserves our adulation is Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan monk who suffered 33 years of torture and imprisonment by Communist China in the back half of the 1900s. He lived through one of the most harrowing eras in Tibetan history, enduring famine, relentless interrogation, and maltreatment for his refusal to give up his faith and identity.
Upon his release in 1992, Gyatso was asked what he feared most while he was held prisoner, and his answer shocked the world: “I feared losing compassion for my captors.” He didn’t fear pain or suffering. He didn’t fear death. He feared losing his ability to soften. He forgave his torturers, which granted him the fortitude to continue living a life of integrity and purpose against all odds. That’s real strength. That’s real love.
Softening doesn’t mean weakness. It’s a powerful paradox. It requires us to hold discomfort with both courage and tenderness. It’s about staying open when the world feels like it’s closing in, meeting challenges with a balance of resolve and surrender.
Get on your mat this week and build your capacity to handle anything. The sun salutations warm you up to your experience, grounding you in movement and breath. The longer-held postures at the end of practice invite you to explore the edges of your discomfort. Can you meet them with curiosity instead of resistance? Can you soften around the rough edges and breathe into them?
When we practice this softening on the mat, we prepare ourselves for the complexities of life off the mat. We become more resilient, more compassionate, and more capable of navigating the inevitable difficulties that come our way. Like Gyatso, we learn that true strength is not in hardening against what hurts but in staying open to it, meeting it with grace and love.
Your practice is a reminder: softening is not just a way of being—it’s a way of transforming.
Metta,
Drewsome.
