Love Thyself

If there is one common theme for all of my classes it is that kindness, compassion, and understanding for your body and yourself, as a person, is a must. Yoga practices without that are harsh, frustrating, and often times injury-filled. If you were to walk up to most yoga instructors, professional athletes, or trainers they would tell you that listening to their body and acting accordingly is key. But somehow when people are beginning a practice or trying to take their practice to new levels, that gets lost in translation.

I often say, why is it that as children we are willing to try many things and not be good at them, but as adults we must be perfect at something after a handful of attempts, otherwise it’s just not for us? That kind of thinking is so limited and in the long run feels pretty diminishing to our spirits.  I’ve been doing yoga for about 15 years now and there are poses I can’t even begin to do, and that to me is exciting because I know I will always have something to work towards.

I challenge you to practice a little self-love within your practice; don’t always pick the most challenging version of a pose or the most difficult class you can manage, take some time to walk instead of run, and make sure that those injuries you’ve picked up along the way are taken care of. You are a pretty fantastic person who does some amazing things and has a wealth of information at their fingertips, so celebrate that! And the coolest thing about you is that you are willing to learn, to show up to your mat and attempt a practice that has no completion, no end result. We will all be perpetual students and isn’t that inspiring?

I offer you some words of loving kindness here.

You can watch the entire class, Love Thyself here on Udaya.com.

By Anna Hanson