Does Our Yoga Practice Ever Get Easier?
For me, practice has brought up many things. Going on retreats has helped, while also having a home practice, and spending time with my teachers. All of these things help me to see where I get caught, need to let go, and where I can bring in more compassion. Bringing the practice home and into life’s ordinary moments is another opportunity to learn and grow.
Sometimes going deeper can feel disorienting, and it is by no means a walk in the park. One of the places where a lot of us get caught up is being too hard on ourselves. And if there has been some trauma in the past, as a way to cope with it we can often internalise our experiences as our own fault, bringing a lifetime of shame and low self-esteem to the surface, until it can be seen, heard and let go of.
The more we can witness just how hard on ourselves we can be, the more unsettled we tend to feel, even anxious. So at times it might seem like our practice isn’t working, like we take two steps forward, and then three steps back. Yet, in seeing these emotions so boldly and in plain sight through awareness, we can potentially let go of what is no longer serving us; to let go of what isn’t our highest good and where we don’t need to function in the world like that anymore.
Probably one of the best things we can learn is that we don’t necessarily need to be afraid of discomfort, be it physically, emotionally or energetically. Life has a certain amount of pain, sorrow, and joy, and sometimes all in one day! What I do know is that this is a natural part of life, and our practice gives us the tools, nourishment and certainty to embrace it all with love.
So, although it may not always be a smooth road having a yoga practice, the resiliency and inner strength we find within us is what it’s all about.
When we practice yoga and meditation we are not so much doing it, per se, to improve ourselves, as much as we are remembering who we are — and that is priceless. As we practice, we cultivate courage that we never thought was possible, and in the end, this is why returning to the mat seems more important than ever.
Published at Sun, 25 Apr 2021 13:58:39 +0000
Article source: https://www.ommagazine.com/does-our-yoga-practice-ever-get-easier/