Yoga teaches us more than physical strength, flexibility, and balance. When we fully engage in the practice, it also teaches us to love others more compassionately.
Today's beautiful guest post is from Ashley Josephine, a fellow blogger from the Top 100 Yoga Blogs list. Ashley discusses ways we can utilize yoga to develop ourselves into peaceful warriors and she reflects on ways that the language of yoga teachers helps us to develop a softness in our strength.
You might be surprised to learn that my yoga journey began
with P90X. I’m a proud 2-time, FULL 90 day graduate of the self-inflicted
workout routine, and I’ve gotta say, that stuff works.
As an intensity junkie, this kind of thing was right up my alley. It is somewhat
ironic that it was this very intense program that introduced me to the much
less intense, yet arguably more effective, yoga practice. At the same time, it
makes perfect sense. Yoga is peaceful, calm and relaxing, but when you really
dive into it, it’s more intense then even P90X.
For those of you unfamiliar with P90X, the yoga DVD is 90
minutes long. Quite frankly, that was just way too much time to be doing any
type of exercise because I’m a busy body always flitting from one thing to the
next and I don’t have a spare 90 minutes in my day, let alone 5. But I
committed, got it done and then decided that yoga would probably be a great way
to keep up my newfound in-shapeness.
As my yoga practice left the confines of my bedroom and
floated into the inviting walls of a studio, I became more and more in love
with the physical toning benefits of yoga and noticed a very significant shift
in my body. But because of my intensity junkie-ness, nagging perfectionism and
Type-A leaning tendencies, I easily got bored and started looking for new, fun
ways to keep my muscles guessing and growing.
I enrolled in group fitness classes - Ab Burner, Zumba,
Belly Dancing, you name it, I probably tried it. I mixed in Pilates and always
told myself I’d try Barre. I never strayed completely from my yoga practice, as
it was there to ground me, calm me down, and tone when I needed it to.
About the only thing I haven’t done is CrossFit (we’ll get
to that in a minute).
More recently I was feeling restless again and I decided to
try a new workout program. This time it was BodyPump. Almost immediately, it
didn’t feel right. Sure, the program is effective and my body looked great. But
the instructors barked orders using words such as “KILL”, “PUSH” and “DON’T
STOP.”
All of these commands seemed antithetical to my run-of-the-mill
preferred yoga vocabulary, such as “breathe,” “release,” “surrender,” “let go.”
Thankfully, around the same time, I was reminded by one of
my teachers how strong yoga really makes you.
The Two Kinds of Strength
There’s a difference between “stay with it,” breathe through
it, and “PUSH” or “DON’T STOP.” It’s not only a linguistic difference, but also
an energetic difference. It’s the difference between working your body with
intention and awareness and following instruction blindly from someone who
absolutely is much different than you and your body.
Yoga makes you strong in more ways than one. I like to call
it compassionate strength, and I’ve only stumbled on it more recently in my
practice.
You can be strong and intimidating. You can be strong and
bulky. You can be strong and evil.
But you can also be strong and loving. Strong and powerful. Strong and caring.
It’s this type of strength the world needs more of, and the
exact type of strength yoga teaches.
Yoga is physically challenging and will absolutely build and
tone muscle if you practice a physical, aerobic style on a daily basis.
Yoga is mentally challenging in that we must move beyond the confines of what
our mind is able to recognize. While sitting on a meditation cushion breathing
won’t melt fat off your thighs, it will wipe fat out of your mind and help you
feel lighter, more clear and incredible.
We must dive into the unknown to progress. We must face our
thoughts with honesty and compassion to feel better. We must know ourselves,
truly, to succeed on an aligned level with the universe and the world around
us. This takes mighty mental strength.
Yoga is emotionally challenging in that it helps us release
old energy and make sense of the situations that come up in our lives.
Yoga gives you strength with space. Space to continue
growing. Space to be just as you are. Space to invite others into the fold.
Space to love. Space to fail. Space to try new things.
All of those things take strength. But without compassion,
you’ll simply muscle your way through life, finding yourself lost, confused and
unhappy. You might have “killer” abs. You might be “hot.” But you won’t feel
loved. You won’t feel safe. You won’t feel good.
How Do You Build Compassionate Strength?
Some of the strongest people in this world may not be the
most physically fit. There’s plenty reason to honor your body and take care of
it by “working out.” But yoga simultaneously invites you to “work in.”
I don’t go to other fitness classes now. And CrossFit still
scares the heck out of me. I’m not interested in bulking up or chiseling out
some six-pack abs. I’m much more interested in shedding layers of emotions that
are holding me back while maintaining the form I have now.
So how do you build strength with compassion? First, remember that it takes
practice. Remember that it’s going to be very challenging. Remember to give
yourself a break. Pat yourself on the back. Smile. And keep breathing.
Here’s a reminder to keep you the right kind of strong:
·
Breathe
·
Love
·
Surrender
·
Accept
·
Acknowledge
·
Celebrate
·
Fail
·
Try
·
Create
·
Build
·
Relax
·
Rest
·
Let go
·
Release
