The rules to soccer, football, and lacrosse either confused or completely disinterested me. But I think this is because I was never able to mentally take anything away from these things (even though so many other people can!). Then a year ago, I decided to sign up for a yoga class, after never even being able to touch my toes. That was my main goal: to touch my toes. So here I am a year later, a toe-touching yogi who has found something in her practice far beyond balance postures and savasanas.
- If you can breathe through it, it will not defeat you.
It seems like simple enough advice, but it's become so important to me in every aspect of life. Sometimes there are these big daunting things that we have to do, whether it be a chair pose, running for miles, or going through a major life change. In practice, during the more difficult postures, the teacher will sometimes chime in and ask, "Are any of you breathing?" and you exhale and realize that you don't know how long you'd been holding your breath. I think sometimes when we get caught up in the whirlwind of life, or a difficult posture, you become so focused on beating it, that it starts to defeat you. It has taken over your thoughts and you forget to do something as simple as breathe. - If you lose your breath, stop.
I've noticed a commonality among people my age and that is, we do not stop. We are so afraid of looking weak that we forget that weakness is human. In yoga, the moment you start panting, you are expected to stop. You are not meant to lose your breath in that way. You should push yourself to your limits, you should try to push past your limits, but you should not kill yourself to do these things.
At the gym the other day, I was running on the treadmill next to this girl who had been running before I got there. After a while of running, I noticed that she was starting to slip and could not keep up with her pace. I saw she was looking at the speed and incline on my machine and she began grasping for the treadmill handles to pull herself to the front to keep going. It looked like her face was going to implode. Life is not meant to be like this. We are not in competition with one another. You should not battle your body. When your breath and your body says stop, it is only because it knows best, not because it is challenging you. - Know the difference between mind and body.
There's a huge difference between being in a tough posture or position and thinking to yourself, "I can't do this" and feeling your legs start to give out. It seems like a simple distinction, but it really is not. You can beat your mind and your thoughts. You should not try to beat your body. It is good to see what you can and cannot do and to challenge yourself because sometimes the biggest thing defeating our efforts is our mind. When we do balance postures in yoga, you often find out that it is not your legs or arms giving out on you but your thoughts distracting your body from the task at hand. Which leads us to... - You are a mountain and your thoughts are clouds.
Mountains do not stop being mountains when a cloud passes by it. We cannot be affected by our thoughts all the time. Sometimes we have to acknowledge the thought for the moment, and let it pass as it is meant to. When we hang on to the things we think about too much, you begin to lose yourself and become wrapped up in something that in all actuality is not important. - Before you move an inch, make sure you are solid in your foundation.
When entering into poses that require standing on one leg or one hand or what have you, we are taught that we must feel the strength in the foundation before we move. Before we even pick up one leg, we shift all the weight into the other and begin slowly moving inch by inch. I think this is so important. How often do we commit to doing something or try to do something only to realize later that we were just not ready for it yet? If you are not ready for something, it is in your best interest to either take it slowly or simply accept that you aren't ready for it. This is not a loss. This is not a weakness. This is a major triumph, a strength in knowing who you are and what you are capable of in this present moment. - You are not the you from yesterday or what you will be tomorrow, you are who you are now.
When we do something today, we should not hold ourselves to the expectations of our yesterdays. What happened to us yesterday, what we were able or not able to do yesterday does not define us today, and does not define us at this present moment. Just in the way that we have our off days mentally, our body has its off days as well. Some things feel sticky or tight that felt loose and strong yesterday or vice versa. Our body changes everyday and it is our responsibility to respect those changes and to not get angry or frustrated when sometimes those changes delay our progression. You'll find much more peace and ability when you work with your body instead of against it. - When you are ready to do it, commit fully to being vulnerable.
Take things slowly when you have to, but there must come a point when you are ready and when this time comes, you have to let go of the fear. There are so many challenging postures in yoga that include being susceptible to falling. It's scary, we want to protect ourselves always. But without releasing and without becoming susceptible to failure, we cannot know what we are capable of succeeding in. - It's called a "practice" for a reason.
There are things in life you are not meant to ever master. There are things that you can get really, really, really good at, but that does not make you a master. If it is something that you are passionate about, you should always work under the assumption that you are still a beginner with so much to learn and with so much room to progress. With this mindset, we can let go of arrogance that may come in the way of getting even better. - Smile!
When you are in discomfort, it should not show through on your face because that is an indication that your thoughts are adversely affecting you or that you are simply hurting yourself. But if it's the former, smack a smile on your face. It's kind of strange how much better that can make the situation. Whenever we're doing deep lunges or holding planks for a long time, our teacher will sometimes ask, "Are you making a face that would scare a small child right now?" because carrying the tension in your face does not make your burden any lighter. Inhale, exhale, lighten your load if you need to, but do not grimace. You are meant to enjoy your practice, your life.
Good vibes as always,
Priya
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