Yoga is not for me
Yoga is all the rage
Yoga, yoga, yoga… you keep hearing about it, reading about it, seeing it all over social media and now your doctor has recommended that you try it as a way to introduce much needed exercise into your self-care regimen, as an approach for managing stress, anxiety, depression, or for a variety of other reasons.
Yoga is Not For Me
Although you understand, appreciate, and agree that you need to do something for exercise, stress reduction, or managing a chronic condition. You cannot even come close to touching your toes so yoga clearly wouldn’t work for you, right!? WRONG!!!!
Yoga is Especially for you
The less flexible you are, the more yoga is likely the right choice for you! Yoga is a practice that helps us to improve functional mobility and rebalance the nervous system which over time can help us achieve improved flexibility of body and mind. Below are a few keys that can make starting a yoga practice a bit less intimidating.
1 —
Try a variety of classes
It can be helpful to think of yoga like ice cream. Although there will always be an extremely small percentage of people who just never like ice cream; the vast majority of people who try enough varieties of ice cream eventually find a flavor they love! If the first class you try isn’t for you, try, try, and try again! You are likely to find a style, studio, teachers, and community you love.
2 —
Embrace the opportunity to be a beginner
Feeling vulnerable, confused, and or incapable can be overwhelming and learning anything new can evoke some or all of these feelings. These overwhelming feelings can lead to us to be resistant to absorbing the details necessary for learning and growth. If you can instead celebrate your lack of experience as a perfect opportunity to learn how to focus your efforts to make continuous incremental progress and avoid developing bad habits; you are likely to grow further and faster than you could have ever imagined!
3 —
Ask questions
When you have a question, ask! So often we are afraid of being judged for asking a “stupid question”, I hope most teachers out there will agree with me here; no such thing as a stupid question! Comprehension of new physical actions requires a variety of data points both mental and physical to execute and everyone has completely different bodies, experiences, and connect with different perspectives which means that clarification might be necessary.
4 —
Remain Curious
Afford yourself the opportunity to explore, let yourself fall, let your practice be fun, make it challenging, allow it to be frustrating, renewing, uncomfortable, and completely customized for what you need. Embrace the peaks and valleys of grow with equal curiosity and acceptance and watch how you soar!
