Yoga is amazing because it is a reflection of our lives, we often see things in our practice that we might not have noticed off the mat. For instance judgement, judging ourselves, the way we might look or our ability to "perform" that day, especially when compared to that girl in the corner! We can sit in our seat and take the time to notice this behaviour and work towards correcting it, filling it with love, compassion, forgiveness. And again each day is different, there are good ones and bad ones. But out in the "world" judging ourselves in the mirror, to the girl walking down the street walking down the street in her Jimmy Choos... That might just seem like any other day!
So what does this mean to our practice? Well we aren't always reminding ourselves to listen to our bodies and listening to what it has to say that day. We have these goals about our physical practice that says, I want to do camel pose like the pictures, camel pose is not just standing on my knees opening my heart, I'm not going anywhere. I want to be looking behind me, I want to have my hands on my ankles, isn't the saying, "no pain, no gain"?
Expect pain, is not good, it is not a badge of honour. It is a very strong signal telling you enough. It is your intuition saying your body is not ready for that deep of a back bend.
So why do we not listen to our intuition if it is natural if it is part of our human nature to have this ability? Because, we as a culture, have desensitized ourselves away from intuition, developing doubt, developing a system that relies on "facts", on statistics, on an ideal of the way everyone should be. So our ability to listen has been dampened, has been questioned from a young age, to the point that we don't even know what our intuition is telling us.
How do we place more value on our intuition, how do we know what our intuition even sounds or feels like?
Start here:
- Close your eyes (after you finish reading this of course!). begin by clearing out your thoughts, your lists of nagging things to do, of people you need to call or check in with, of your own judgements of how you should feel. Find the silence where it is simply just you and the sound of your breath.
- Next, very clearly ask yourself overall on a scale of 1-5, how are you? Then do a check, starting with your feet, you can use your hands to start, but work to simply experiencing those moments in silence and stillness. start at your feet, how do they feel? your legs, your knees? your hips? lower back? your abdomen and digestive system? your lower ribs? your chest, your shoulders, your hands, wrists, arms? your neck, your jaw, tongue, even your teeth? your eyes, your head? even your mind?
- And again ask yourself, how do you feel? Do you actually feel different once you became aware of your entire body? Do you have a better sense of your being?
- Now finally, ask yourself, if you were to practice yoga, or do a presentation, would you hold this same awareness, would you listen more closely to your needs?
It's not easy, and even still you might start your activity with conviction and awareness, but then you get lost in the task and habit and next thing you know and your somewhere you don't necessarily want to be. In a headstand. You don't need to be in that headstand. So come down, sit in lotus and just breath. Ground yourself.
We are all waiting there for you!
