Questions

There is this deep part of me that questions... everything.

All the bits and pieces of my life.

I hear the questions, quietly in my mind. 

Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?

Where do I want to go from here?

Can I accept this moment, as it is?

Can I love myself, as I am? 

  

Today I can choose to set those questions aside and simply breathe.

Simply be.

Images in this post by Ken Johnson of CKCImage.com. Leggings by Ginger Orange.

Yoga is a Practice

Here are a few things that I know, in this moment.

Yoga is a practice.

And my practice is in a constant state of flux, just like me.

Postures will come and go.

Inversions? Fancy transitions? They do not define me.

Today I practiced yoga for the first time in a week, and my body felt stiff and tight. My joints ached. I tried for binds in Goddess pose and Extended Side Angle, and felt as though I was in a different body than my own.

I felt uncomfortable. I kept going. And in savasana, I felt relieved and a little proud of myself for sticking through the discomfort.

I've heard other teachers and students talk about 'taking a break' from their practice. It has been years since I've done that with mine, but in the last few months there have been moments when I'd rather do anything than yoga.

I know I've spent a lot of time comparing myself to other yogis, teachers and students, deciding who has a 'stronger' practice, who knows more, who is capable, who is worthy.

I'd love to let all of that go.

I journaled about it today, actually. How I'm tired of letting my practice define me, rather than support me.

I don't live to do yoga; I do yoga in order to live a more balanced, happy, peaceful life.

Let that be my mantra. Let the comparisons and judgments fall away.

I want to be remembered as a yogi who loved wholeheartedly.

I want to be remembered as someone who cared, who took care of herself with grace and kindness, and who refused to let fear get the best of her. If handstand is in that picture, OK. If not, OK.

How do you practice ahimsa in your yoga routine? How do you let go of a fear of failure, of not being good enough?

The Gift of This Moment

Consider for a moment the gifts contained by the present.

This breath.

This place you are in.

When you turn toward the present moment, you find that it contains everything you need. Everything that you are is right here.

Stay open. Stay willing.

Photos by Felipe Silva of @the_lost_portraits (1, 2) and by Jobi Otso (3).

Stay True

Photos by Tom Huynh Photography.

Give yourself permission to be unsteady and uncertain. Remember that you're doing the best you can with what resources you have.

Don't discount all the effort you're putting in. It is incredible, the way you keep moving forward in spite of the setbacks and challenges. 

Stay true to yourself. 

Unlimited Potential

Photos by @the_lost_coast.

Consider for a moment that you have unlimited potential. 

Everything around you will change and fall away and re-emerge, and yet your power for goodness and grace and love will remain.

Stay true to that.

You Are Beautiful

Photos by Tra Huynh of Two Twenty Photography.

Remember how beautiful you are. Remember real beauty is inside, even though the world sometimes tells you otherwise.

Feel this.

Write it down if you need to.

Remind others that they are beautiful, inside and out.

Know the ways you are beautiful. Feel them.

The softness of your smile. The way you look in the afternoon, the way speckled light dances in your hair, and in those moments, your confidence and calm. Your way of being infinite and all at once, present in this moment.

What if, just for a second, you could see yourself the way others see you? How beautiful and precious you are. How perfect.

Trust what you know to be true: that you are beautiful.

When you doubt this, return to the reminder you've written to yourself.

Namaste.