Nothing to Lose

Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam
Yoga is skill in action.

— Bhagavad Gītā 2.50

“Skill in action” was on display this week in the form of a 20-year-old figure skater, Alysa Liu, as she glided across the ice in two incredible performances, radiating pure joy. She was a whirlwind of light and freedom. I’m not a figure skating expert, but something about it felt different.

In an interview after her short program, she said something remarkable:

“I’m really confident in myself. Even if I mess up and fall, that’s totally okay, too. I’m fine with any outcome, as long as I’m out there… There is nothing to lose.”

Those are profound words coming from anyone. From a young Olympic athlete on the world stage, they are extraordinary. When I heard her say that, I was awestruck. What a demonstration of self-trust and self-compassion.

It showed up in her skating, too. There was an ease and lightness that was impossible to miss. I could almost feel it.

She embodied an important and advanced spiritual teaching: non-attachment. To act, work, and do one’s duty for the effort alone, without fixation on the outcome.

The Bhagavad Gītā says:

karmaṇyevādhikāraste
mā phaleṣu kadācana
mā karmaphalahetur bhūr
mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi

You have a right to action alone, never to its fruits.
Do not let the fruits of action be your motive,
and do not become attached to inaction.

This is not passive. It is not about lowering standards, pretending results don’t matter, or giving up.

Being told to focus solely on effort can sound simplistic, even unrealistic, in an age that measures everything by results. I have not come anywhere close to mastering this teaching, but I believe in it. So it felt validating to watch someone be a living expression of it.

Alysa did not tie her self-worth to her performance. She was committed to her dharma, which she described as sharing her art with the world.

Commentator Tara Lipinski captured it perfectly: “She has figured out how to compete without carrying the weight of it. That is the secret that every athlete wants to solve.”

It takes a specific sort of bravery to show up fully without concern for results. She didn’t just say, even if I don’t get the gold, or don’t get a medal, it doesn’t matter - she said, “even if I fall, that’s totally okay too”.

She was answerable to nobody but herself.

To watch a young woman living on her own terms, with confidence, joy, and gratitude, was so inspiring. And then, as if to underline the teaching without contradicting it, she won the gold medal. But the medal is just the happy byproduct.

May we approach our work with dedication to process alone.

May we show up, and let that be enough.

Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

Om Peace Peace Peace

(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

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