After every yoga practice, comes a bitch fest. The internal litinay of all the stuff we wanted to do but couldn't.
"I couldn't get my leg in lotus". "My back bends sucked". I couldn't bind in Marichiyasana." "I wish I didn't have to take child's so much."
As I started to go into my personal one yesterday,
" My back is weak, I didn't bind in Pasasana, my right knee is still jacked, I didn't lift up from Laghuvajrasana, I didn't finish the sequence......"
I stopped & thought, "Out of all the poses included in a sequence, I can't do 5 or 6 poses but I can do at least 60 or so others. That is absolutely fricking amazing!" Those types of odds in any other situation would be considered a slam dunk, however, most yoga practitioners forget the rest and fixate on what they couldn't do. Below are some ways to change that.
Keep a Yoga Gratitude Journal.
When you find yourself making a list of what you can't do, stop yourself and switch it. Start making a list of what you did do and of the improvements you experienced in your practice. This list will ALWAYS be longer then the "can't/didn't do" list. If this is hard for you, start small. "I made it to my mat. I practiced child's pose. I was able to bring my toes together in Child's Pose. I could breathe in Child' Pose. I planted my feat in Tadasana. My Tadasana was strong...etc".
See Your Practice as a Miracle In Motion
Albert Einstein said, There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Your practice is a miracle in motion. There is someone who woke up this morning and couldn't walk, who wishes they could stand on two feet in Tadasana. Bobbie Jo Allen, an Ashtanga practioner who suffered from a degenerative condition & walked with a cane, recently wrote an amazing article on how even one Sun Salute was a life changer for her and one of her students who is recuperating from a car crash. Check it out here
Practice Non-Attachment
I saved this for last because it is a lofty goal but it is a staple of yoga philosophy. Through non attachment, we learn how to experience each pose for what it is today without comparison to past poses or without thinking or dwelling on future poses we are building up too.
Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. -Oprah
Practicing non-attachment and being present does not mean we do not have any goals or that we ignore the past. It means that we acknowledge that we are doing our best for this moment & we allow that to be enough.
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