Your narrative has the ability to shape your entire practice. How you show up, what you’re bringing with you to the mat, your mind’s story, has a profound effect on what happens both on your mat and in life. You create your experiences with what you choose to believe.
I can’t tell you how many times my narrative of “I’m not good enough” takes me out. It has taken me out on my mat, and it has exponentially taken me out in life. After years of work correcting my false beliefs, I can honestly say those false narratives take me out less and less. There are so many false narratives held by almost everyone you know, and yes, most likely, even yourself.
When it comes to your yoga practice, do these narratives sound familiar? “I’m tired.” “I’m too busy.” “I can’t do that.” “It’s too hard, too hot, too crowded.” Or do some of your false beliefs affect your mind’s story on your mat? Do you notice self-doubt showing up? Or perfectionism?
These narratives are disempowering. I invite you to choose a new narrative, one that would shape your experience, both on and off your mat, that is more empowering, more supportive and more aligned with how you want to show up and who you want to be.
Our yoga practice is an opportunity to get quiet, to move and breathe, and to find stillness at the very moment we want to come out of the pose. It is an opportunity to practice perseverance, and in those moments where we are growing more aware of what is happening on our mat, we create space between stimulus and response. It is in that space where we reclaim our power. It is also in that space where we continually re-create ourselves, with a better understanding of who we are and what we’re capable of. The work we do on our yoga mat requires all of us. We cannot practice the teachings of yoga and be consumed with self-doubt, judgment, and self-criticism.
What are you practicing on your mat? Because what you practice, you get good at. If you are practicing judgment and self-criticism, those things are what you strengthen, and they follow you off your mat and do not serve you well. Can you show up on your mat and practice qualities like patience, compassion, and acceptance? Notice how what you practice is fortified. Notice when you practice frustration, not just on your mat, but in your daily life. When you practice frustration, you will become so good at being frustrated that the least little thing will frustrate you. Complaining is another one. If you are a chronic complainer, then it is very likely that you’ve become so good at complaining that you will find fault with just about anything. Remember, what you practice you get good at. Put into practice what you want to strengthen and take this practice to your yoga mat.
This leads me to how we are being, and that HOW we are being is more important than what we are doing. When you notice you are not behaving in line with how you want to show up or how you create yourself, then you must continually let that way of being go. I, too, must re-align and re-create my way of being, and often, especially around those that get under my skin. Yoga finds its relevance when it can impact the way we are moving through life. You are reclaiming your power every time you let go, shift perspective, and recreate your way of being.
-MaryBeth