A deeper look inside
“Yoga is not about touching your toes. It is what you learn on the way down.” - Jigar Gor
Many times I find that I learn the most about myself during those really challenging situations or darkest times in my life. I have definitely been blessed in my life but have also faced challenges that forced me to re-evaluate my priorities and make some big changes. I have had to move, change jobs, go back to school, and start a new career from scratch. We have likely all been through something that at the time seems demoralizing and challenges that seem insurmountable but with time and some perspective we can sometimes see that those challenges were our most humbling teachers and exposed our greatest strengths.
Developing a yoga practice can be a great way to learn how to better react and adapt to these challenges as they arise. Learning to be in the moment and breathe can help in gaining empowerment over injury, surgery, pain, and dysfunction. Gaining insights into how we mentally and physically deal with adversity can significantly impact and improve our functional outcomes.
You can gain mobility by learning to find your edge or point of tension in a pose and staying just behind it and slowly, gently softening into the resistance. Mobility can improve function and decrease stiffness by improving the range of movement in a joint and making movement more comfortable.
Through slow, deliberate transitions and/or the use of props, stability and balance can be improved with a consistent practice of steady movements and held postures. Many of us take our stability and balance for granted during movement. As we age, both stability and balance can be increasingly challenged for a variety of reasons but the sooner the work is started to improve and maintain it the better the future outcomes are. Meaning a decrease risk of falling down the line.
With the help of the mindful movements of yoga’s various poses and postures, a deeper awareness of your body and your posture can improve which can decrease your overall pain, improve your mobility, and deepen your breath. This deeper awareness and understanding of your body can lead to greater empowerment and agency in your healing journey. A consistent yoga practice, designed around your specific needs and goals, can put you in the driver’s seat of your journey and give you the control in where you are going and how you get there. This autonomy can allow you to better understand your pain and progress in the way that is the most beneficial to you to work through it.
Ultimately, yoga is not about the shapes you can get your body into, but is so much more about how your body and mind feel in a pose and what lessons can be taken from your practice on the mat out into the world. The physical and mental challenges that arise in a yoga class are a representation of the challenges we face in our daily lives off the mat and the lessons learned can immediately be translated into how we think about and treat ourselves and others. Through these challenges we develop a deeper understanding of self and the importance of self love in our healing process. As this relationship develops, function can be improved.
How will you challenge yourself today? And what lessons are waiting there for you?
