Growing up, I always felt uneasy with what decision to make. I was worried that I would get it wrong. I would second guess and review what I said and should say. I graded myself on how good or bad my actions were. To help make the right decisions, I would consult those close to me, reason the best way to go about things six ways from Sunday, but nothings seemed to work. There always seemed to be something faulty in what I thought was flawless logic and best held advice. The tension in my neck and throat grew, as I lost my own voice and stopped trusting myself.
Do you have situations like that in your life where there doesn’t seem to be any obvious solution and the only clue you have is that something just doesn’t feel right in your body?
When I started yoga, the biggest question that I wanted an answer to is: what is my purpose? Why am I here? What am I designed for? The greatest benefit I got from my yoga practice is how the practice can open the portal to my soul so I can receive clarity on this question. I’m sure you have your doubts that getting an answer to such a big question is that simple, especially if you’ve been searching for an answer for a long time, but can be. Once you release the tension that has built up in your body, you will begin to uncover the wisdom you have held within your tissues. Now that your tissues are open and pliable, a greater awareness will be able to come through and in that moment. The present moment is the only place you can access this wisdom. If your mind or body is caught in in what happened in the past or what might happen in the future, the voice of your soul can become overlooked as the voice of fear and worry speak louder. But the more you practice, the quieter those voices will become, and the voice of your soul will come through and you will become clear on your purpose, on what to do, in the moment.
This what yoga is designed for. Yoga is an ancient practice that is designed to unite your mind, body, and soul. During most of our lives, we live a fractured existence, honoring one thing above the other not allowing the whole system to work as a whole as it was designed to do. When we live a fractured life, there’re pieces of ourselves that we’re not fully aware of or we don’t fully embrace because growing up we learn that these pieces are bad, wrong or inappropriate, so we try to control them, fix them or erase them completely. This is your ego. Your ego is created to keep you safe in a bubble, but that also blocks you from being open in the moment and freely deciding what you are to do in the moment, your purpose for being in that situation. What yoga does is help you come back to that center point to who you were before you decided you had to be a certain way or look a certain way or act a certain way. It reconnects you to who you were designed to be and clears the distractions from your mind telling you that you need to somehow be someone else.
You can always tell when you’re not unified in who you truly are because there’s going to be tension in the body. There’s going to be tightness, and resistance that shows up. And that’s your body’s way of telling you that something is out of alignment. There is something that you’re blocking or controlling about yourself preventing you from being present and open in the moment.
How do you do that? It is really very simple, and I think that’s why it is so easy to overlook the profound change yoga creates. You just need to open your body, come back to your breath and listen to your heart. This is what the practice teaches you. To be able to recognize how you feel in your body in any moment and observe what you’re thinking and feeling without any judgment. And sometimes that can be tricky part if you are used to following your thoughts back to your comfort zone, but the more you practice, the easier it will become. The more I practiced and allowed to look at what was inside me, not what everyone else saw, I began to discover more of myself. Get my voice back and lift the weight of the world off my shoulders. I discovered what was authentic for me, and allowed myself to be vulnerable enough to share it.
You don’t have to be perfect at this, even little improvements will allow more clarity to come through because the more you open the more you are able to release stuck energy from the body so you stop using all your energy to defend yourself from the “problem” and more energy discovering the creative solution.
The less you try to control who you think you should be, and open to the possibility of who you are, the more clarity you will have in any situation. You can start by taking how you open your body and release tension on the mat off the mat. Notice how you are standing, how you are breathing, and if you are focusing on defending yourself, then gently ground your feet, slow down your breath and get curious about the situation. Yes, it can feel uncomfortable depending upon how big of a leap you are making outside your comfort zone, but I promise you it is worth it.
How are you going to practice this in your daily life? Let me know by commenting on this post.
Need a practice to get into your body?
Download my Morning Jump Start Routine. It will help you get centered and clear on your intention for your day so you can stay open and connected to your purpose.
