I went back to yoga last week for the first time in about a month. I’d been avoiding it. Ever since I took an extended break last fall, I lost my groove. And finding the energy and courage to accept the fact that I practically had to start over again was a little harder than I anticipated. It’s never easy to put yourself in a situation that you know is 1) going to be hard and 2) going to make you uncomfortable.
But ultimately, I missed yoga enough to make the decision to go. I mean, the fact that the gym is going to yank that money out of my account every month whether I show up or not helped nudge that decision along, too. Accountability.
And while I suffered through my first class back in a while, I had some pretty powerful thoughts that I realized could pretty much be applied to anything: chasing a dream, starting a new project, a fitness journey, starting a business, you name it.
Stay focused
I was shocked as I not-so-gracefully transitioned from one pose to the next that whoa, I can still do this. In the few classes I’d attended sporadically the last several months, I found balancing extremely difficult. And because of that, I’d make silly, sarcastic comments throughout the class to put myself and those suffering alongside me at ease. You know, subscribing to that whole if I call myself out on my shortcomings, it’s relatable— if someone else calls me out, it’s an insult school of thought. But I’d had a tough week last week, so I wasn’t up for much chatter throughout the class. Instead, I stayed laser-focused on the task at hand.
As a firm believer in the power of our words, I’m embarrassed to admit how shocked I was to discover how much better I did when I kept to myself and focused on just trying.
Go at your own pace
I attend a flow class. And the way that typically works is the instructor walks us through a sequence of poses and then encourages us to repeat that sequence at the pace of our breath. Now, I am usually surrounded by people who have been doing yoga for years. I only started last summer, and like I said, I took an extended break last fall. It’d be really easy for me to take one glance around the room, decide I’m a failure, and walk out.
But the truth is, where they are has nothing to do with me. If you keep going at your own pace, eventually you’ll end up where you need to go. If you give up because someone else is already doing it faster, better, or more gracefully, you’ll never progress.
Rest when you need to
You’re useless if you keep trying to push when your energy levels are depleted. Stop. Take a break. Rest. Then get up and try again.
Push through the discomfort
I wish I kept count of the number of times the instructor has told us to do something and my immediate thought was ha, yeah right, not possible. I think this might be my favorite part of yoga. Something new and different gets introduced, a pose you would never think you’re capable of, and on the other side of discomfort is success.
Sometimes things feel unnatural, but if you trust the leader, you can assume it’s possible so it’s worth trying. I’ve surprised myself on more than one occasion just by pushing through the initial discomfort. Keep going.
I think we all get way too focused on everyone else’s end result to allow ourselves to happily accept the messy middle. It’s in the midst of doing difficult things that we learn the most about ourselves. It’s where we find confidence and self-worth. If you live your whole life inside the bubble that feels safe, are you really living? Don’t just go through the motions every day. Make the decision to go after the things that you want–you have to begin somewhere. And so did everyone else.
0 Comments