Yoga's Transformational Power
One way to start this post would be to describe all the aspects I didn't like about my body OR I could focus on how yoga helped be to love all the parts of my body, my mind and increased my spirit - she now has a strong and positive voice that I listen to.
Goddess - Angkor Wat. Photo by Margot Porter
From conversations with women friends talking about their bodies I noticed language like ashamed, frustrated, even hate arising. And lots of wishful thinking, for example, the straight out I just don't like comments "I don't like my thighs/buttocks/voice", "I wish my body was smaller" ," I want longer legs/bigger breasts/smaller bottom insert own comment. The other option is they take the form of the it would all be different if - "if my thighs weren't so big I could...", my own one "if I was stronger I could...". Okay so most of us have them and I'm not in anyway suggesting that this is a purely female issue but is this the message we really want to tell our bodies, each and every cell. Our bodies may well believe us and manifest exactly what we have been telling our bodies they are - old, stiff, inflexible, weak and the list goes on.
Yet this is the body we have. This is the one body and this is it. Now I believe the body listens to what we say that little voice inside our head and that changing the message brings about huge transformation.
Try "My body is amazing". "I love everything about my body." Now if that is a little too much of a jump then try "I accept/appreciate/ have gratitude for all that my body does." "I am lovely just the way I am."
While I’m not going to say that
yoga is the only solution, I would say it has worked wonders for me and many of my students either from their own observations or those of others. When practiced with an awareness of loving kindness and acceptance yoga shows us the way to love our body. Yoga can be a powerful force of positive transformation.
My yoga mat is a wonderful private space for me to explore some of my limiting beliefs and habits. Yoga class is a supportive and safe place to investigate, untangle and tease out my patterns and a chance to evolve in the present moment....now. I can try something new. I can let go of a limiting thought safe in the knowledge that the only person judging me is probably me and I am the one person who can let it go. Recently at a workshop in Melbourne I watched the woman next to me wobble out of a balance and then she tried again. Inspiration! Don't give up. Yoga is a practice that is different every day. Explore. Play. Enjoy!
Fall in LOVE with your Body
1. Use positive language to talk to our bodies.
On the mat we are up close and personal with our bodies and with our thoughts about our bodies. Notice those thoughts. Give them a name: judging, critiquing, rejecting, disliking. Turn the thought around. Make it a positive thought: exploring, enjoying, relaxing, accepting, challenging. My teacher A.G Mohan talks about overlaying positive thoughts onto our latent impressions - those non-supportive often untrue thoughts about ourselves that have been repeated maybe from childhood and are embedded deep in the cells. Rewrite your cellular memory. Each time you notice a negative or self-defeating thought arising in your practice change it to a fresh and kind thought. This practice of quiet observation can move off your mat and into your life when you notice that little voice holding you back from reaching your true and awesome potential. Rewrite.
Make your body a temple of LOVE.
2. Move our body in a new and different way.
Our yoga practice is for us and no one else. We are allowed, that's right you have permission, to move in a way that expresses and honours your body. Our bodies are really cool and amazing. They can be physically strong and flexible on other days they are soft and yielding. Honour and respect the way your body speaks.
One of my first teacher's used to ask us to visualise doing a pose first and look I'll be honest I didn't get it back then just wanted to get on with my 'ego' led practice ... that's right - harder, faster and body bashing. Of course, many times I left class jittery and exhausted certainly didn't want to breathe and relax let alone spend time visualising. And yet as the years have gone by I have discovered that visualisation is a wonderful tool to assist and support transformation. It becomes part of the memory: muscle, fascia, cell memory. Be prepared to visual and try to move your body in a different way. Imagine your body in a beautiful tree, handstand, or a back bend.
Marigold OM on the gravel. Photo by Margot Porter.
Notice what you are doing now and appreciate all that your body can do NOW.
3. Appreciate what your body can do.
The body is amazing and takes us everywhere. From the moment we wake up in the morning we are moving and using our body: digesting, eliminating, refueling. And even when we are sleeping our bodies are quietly working to rebuild, relax and rejuvenate us. Seeing your body in a whole new way can really help us appreciate all the wonderful things it does mostly without us even knowing.
Often we take our bodies for granted and even a life changing illness can fade over time, a chronic condition becomes managed and we let go of seeing our bodies as they truly are - complex, amazing and ever changing.
After an appropriate yoga practice a dramatic or subtle shift can happen in the way we feel in our bodies. Stay with it. Resist rushing off and disconnecting from our bodies as we make our way back to daily life. Stay with embodied awareness and see what it can tell us throughout the day. Our bodies can help us gain both inner and outer strength, to access and reside in deep peace and contentment and help us to live our dharma, to live our life from our hearts from a place of love.
Playing on the verandah. Photo by Marc Perri.
See your body as a way to access our quiet, peaceful inner state. Let this shift the way you experience the world.
Yoga has truly helped me powerfully transform the way I think, move and the way I feel about my body. I still have occasional negative thoughts but I know how to shift them and I keep falling in love with my body and all that it can do. I am honoured to have this body and will do my best to look after my body.
Gratitude. Acceptance. Kindness. LOVE.
Thank you each and every one of my cells.
HUG YOURSELF TODAY!
Om shanti, shanti, shanti,
Margot XX
