The first time she picks up the pole it feels completely unnatural. It is heavy, bouncy and awkward. She hardly knows how to hold it so it doesn’t fall, or take her off balance.

She learns how to run, holding the pole at the perfect angle against her body, so it keeps her aerodynamic. To merely move her legs in a coordinated way is not enough. She must run with all her might.

The first time she plants the pole in the ground, it jars her body, and she barely makes it off the ground. The abrupt stop to her powerful forward motion must transition smoothly to an upward arc. Otherwise, it feels like getting hit by a truck.

There are many mis-takes, many false starts, and terrible landings. There is frustration, confusion and pain. There is self-doubt.

And then… one day she runs, she plants and she breathes in just the perfect way that floats her body above the horizontal bar. She is flying. The trajectory of her leap makes a perfect rainbow-shaped arc against the blue sky.

The final step is to let go. All those tools and techniques which brought her to this place, hovering above the bar high up in the air, must all be released in order to continue moving forward. Her hands must release the pole and she must trust her own momentum and ability.

The timing is critical. Letting go too soon, before she has achieved the right height, produces a hard landing. Letting go too late, which is much more common, keeps her crashing into the bar, never realizing the graceful glide up and over.

The sensations of floating and falling, untethered and free, are ecstatic.

Gravity eventually brings her back down to the ground, for that is where she has chosen to live. But now she knows how to fly, if even for the briefest moment.

This is my favorite analogy for spiritual practice. All the tricks, methods and practices we learn – to meditate, to do yoga, to breathe – are but the means to bring us up-close and personal with our own inherent ability to transcend.

There is nothing more intimate than getting to know your inner self, to speaking in soft whispers to that still, small voice that holds your strength, grace and wisdom.

The point is not to rigidly adhere to any program or practice prescribed by anyone. It is to get yourself there – to the mat, the cushion, and the patch of grass – and learn the methods so well that your trust in the process removes the need for whatever is not yours. We must let go of the pole to successfully vault over the bar.

When the grasp is released, the body is soft and the spirit is free, all of the hard work of preparation and training fade into the background, and the fruits of practice are revealed.

There is nothing more to do. You have everything you need. YOU ARE ALL YOU NEED.