When I started practicing yoga, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was beyond green. I didn’t own a mat, nor did I have any idea there were varying degrees of see-through yoga pants. I didn’t know what a savasana was and I wasn’t very flexible. I just knew that as my body began to age, it wasn’t responding as well to my previous form of working out (running) very well. I needed to find a new workout identity; I was no longer a Runner.
I definitely did not understand why people said yoga was “a practice”.
I had no idea that yoga could be transformative. Or that all intentional, mindful movement could be so utterly life changing.
Yoga happened to show up at a time that I really needed to “drop down” into my body, and it became a spiritual tool in my toolbelt for my own healing. It turns out, when intentional, mindful movement became something I began to “practice,” it ushered in a whole new era in my life. Slowing down and becoming quiet within my body, learning to listen to what it was telling me, finding the places within it where stress and negativity were lodging, finding a new appreciation for how much it was willing to do and how consistently it was there to support me, feeling it release, feeling its strength, and opening up the blocked lines of communication between my thoughts and feelings and my body began to heal me. My longtime secret body dysmorphia and eating disorder tendencies and body shaming and insecurities and unhealthy perspectives about myself slowly began to be tinkered with and changed.
The practice of showing up, listening, cultivating a mutual support system between my body and its needs and my thoughts and feelings, and learning to be still, quiet, and open and creating with those qualities a safe space for myself began a process of growth that has not stopped.
So much can change when you create that space for yourself (the mat is a great spot for practicing that too, because it’s literally a physical space that belongs only to you, that no one else will even step foot on). My own growth and learning have snowballed for the last five or so years that I’ve been showing up for myself in these safe ways, creating these safe spaces. Integration between the body, mind and spirit that brings healing naturally leads to more healing and more growth, and a desire to learn more, change more, and find more ways to change the energy and the world that you create and inhabit.
It might sound a little far fetched that a workout can change the trajectory of your entire life, but I’m here to tell you that it just might! Mindful movement, listening, connecting, supporting, loving, forgiving, and healing can all happen on your mat. They can happen any time you slow down and drop down into your own body, become present and grounded in your own self, and become mindful of the myriad things that are being communicated between all of your parts. It is a real joy to start listening to, connecting with, and loving your own self.
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