Want to Succeed in Life? – Get on the mat.
“The very heart of yoga practice is ‘abyhasa’ – steady effort in the direction you want to go.” – Sally Kempton
Most people see yoga as a means to get a good stretch in - which it can be, but there is so much more to that ‘stretching’ when you practice yoga properly. The term yoga literally means yoke, it is the yoke between the mind and the body. When you’ve practiced fostering that connection you learn to be fully present and aware of what is happening in the here and now. Besides bringing you into being and the present moment, the current inhale and exhale the mindset of yoga establishes the foundation for growth and living a successful life.
It is a Practice
Yoga is not a sport or a class…yoga is a practice, meaning that one needs to come to the mat consistently. There is no game or race that you are practicing for…you are practicing for the practice. Like in life when you are striving to achieve some goal or improve yourself in some way it always comes down to regular practice. If you are trying to become healthier you need to practice consistent healthy habits such as proper nutrition and exercise. If you’re growing your business then you need to constantly spend time working on the areas that will help you do so. Once you stop showing up your progress will start to wane, and showing up when you’re not seeing the results can be hard. With yoga the goal is to keep coming to your mat and doing the work knowing that the true goal is the practice. This mindset allows you to detach from the idea of rewards/accomplishments and focus on the process and you’re willingness to commit to the work that needs to be done on a consistent basis.
Growth Requires Stretching
“Growth is simply learning how to suffer gracefully, elegantly and not letting your pain completely tear you apart.” - Nikita Gill
Yes the asanas (poses/postures) portion of yoga involves some deep physical stretching, you are inhaling heat/prana/energy and exhaling tension and discomfort. When you are practicing yoga you begin to realize that there is no end to any pose, and those deep stretches…they can bring a feeling of great discomfort. Paschimottanasana (double leg forward fold) has you seated with your legs out in front of you, spine straight hinging forward at the hips. Once you reached a certain point of discomfort, feeling tension behind the legs in the hamstrings or the calves, you then stay there and begin to breathe. As you breathe moving deeper and deeper into the pose you start to realize you are just trying to stay in comfortable discomfort. You do not back off from the discomfort, you stay with it, you breathe into and relax with it until the tension subsides and lessens…only then to fold deeper looking for more discomfort. If you want to grow and be successful then you need to keep stretching yourself, and that requires you to not only accept but embrace those growing pains over and over again.
Stop Comparing
“Follow your nature. The practice is really about uncovering your own pose; we have great respect for our teachers, but unless we can uncover our own pose in the moment, it’s not practice — it’s mimicry. Rest deeply in Savasana every day. Always enter that pratyahara (withdrawn state) every day. And just enjoy yourself. For many years I mistook discipline as ambition. Now I believe it to be more about consistency. Do get on the mat. Practice and life are not that different.” – Judith Hanson Lasater
In yoga, it is you on your mat, as you are today. There is no comparison to others, or to yourself yesterday or tomorrow, there is only the work you do today. Yoga asks you to be completely and utterly present, to bring forth all of your effort and the focus is within first. It does not matter what anyone else is doing on their mat because what they are doing in no way affects what you are doing. The only person you can control is yourself, and the only person’s actions you need to be focusing on is yours. Take note, comparison and learning are two very different things, you can learn from someone else and you often need to, but that is where it stops. You do not look at where they are and what they’re doing and compare it to where you are and what you’re doing, you learn the techniques and skills that they used and then you employ that knowledge to yourself in your own way. When you compare you waste energy on others that you could have been used for yourself.
Open Your Heart
"Vulnerability sounds like truth & feels like courage. Truth & courage aren't always comfortable, but they are never weakness." – Brene Brown
Often times yoga teachers will sequence a whole class around heart openers. These classes are designed to open up the front of the body, to bend backwards into positions that lifts your heart up and out - leaving your most vital organ fully exposed. Many times, if the teacher and the sequencing are effective there are tears at the end. You will be told to stay there heart open, feeling completely vulnerable and breathe into it, to keep expanding and allowing yourself to once again become accepting of the feeling of vulnerability. If you truly want to succeed in life, if you truly want to live a life of purpose (and we all have one) then you’ve got be willing to put yourself out there. You will never become all you can without revealing all you have to give. In order to truly experience love you’ve got to truly give love.
I ask you to get on the mat, because stepping on the mat is stepping into yourself. Each inhale and exhale brings more awareness to the present moment, to the current version of yourself, and with more awareness comes great change. Each back bend taken opens your heart and allows you to be vulnerable, to breathe into the vulnerability to stay with it and accept it as part of the practice. Each forward fold reminds you of the discomfort of stretching while also cultivating the strength and comfort you have within yourself. In order to practice yoga, you need to practice consistently, with practice comes a greater practice.
Copyright 2020 Strength & Grace Life Coaching LLC