The paradox of planning is that you can never plan for it.
I find that the world around me is chaotic and unpredictable. And yet, I plan, plan, plan and over-plan. What usually unfolds is everything other than what I projected. And when I don't plan anything, sometimes all seems to work out. Can you relate? How can this be true?
Within chaos is the potential for anything to happen. Even thinking about what might happen creates more pathways of possibility--beyond what may have already been slated to happen from the get.
There are 2 levels of chaos systems. Level 1 systems do not react to predictions about them. Weather is a Level 1 system. Level 2 systems react to predictions about them. History is Level 2; the marketplace is Level 2; yoga is Level 2; you and your life are Level 2!
Did you know you were going to discover Level 2 chaos systems in this blog? Do you know what will happen today? Do you know what yoga poses you will do well and not do well in each class?
You won't ever truly know until you get there.
Why do we bother studying Level 2 chaos systems, like yoga? Not to predict the future, but to widen our horizons; to understand that our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable, and that we have many more possibilities before us than we know.
Asana is an exercise in the unpredictability of life, and the twists and turns of possibility that organically unfurl. You are never a bystander to the variation of your body and world; but, rather, you are a master chameleon of chaos itself. Planning is paradoxical; keep doing it because anything can happen. Keeping planning because something will happen. Keep planning so that you will sometimes be right and sometimes be wrong.
Practice chaotic movement and variation. Leverage what you've got and respond to each moment with excitement as you explore all of the possibilities available to you.
May you be an artist of life, yourself, and the infinite combinations therein!