This past week, I have spent a lot of time thinking about change and transformation on the mat. I want to keep challenging my clients to take their practice to the next level. To try “just this.” This morning, I was flipping through an older Yoga Journal magazine and I came across the headline: “Road to Somewhere: Yoga is a powerful vehicle for change. Where is it taking you?”
Where IS yoga taking you? Can you look back on the time since you’ve been taking yoga classes and see a change in yourself? Yoga reminds us to always be challenging ourselves. Yoga reminds us to become more aware of each part of our body so we feel differences between muscles, poses, and the breath in different poses. Yoga reminds us to still our thoughts. To stay present in our time on the mat. To breathe through the hard times. To accept “just this” on certain days.
But do we take those lessons off the mat? Do we challenge ourselves in our work environment or our relationships? Do we listen to our bodies as we wake up in the morning? As we move through our day? Do we notice our breath throughout the day? Do we remind ourselves to be present in our moments, experiencing and savoring “just this?” When we are ill, or suffer pain, do we remind ourselves to breathe through it?
These are the changes we discover in yoga. Greater awareness.
Have you noticed this change in yourself since you began yoga? If not, I challenge you to make that your mission this summer.