Yoga Teacher Training: Gratitude a Path Out of Judgement

We started the class with pranayama, controlled intentional breath to help access the Nadis and the energy associated with each of them.We focused on the Left Nadi the Yang sun energy to help us get through the upcoming yoga class. During the class I started out strong determined to focus on the posture and being in the present moment which is yoga.

In the middle of the class I started to feel shaky as the all to regular judgment started to surface about my body and my ability to do poses. I felt a wave of emotions wash over me and the wanted to collapse…to stop. I tried to not react to it to focus on my breath, the posture, and I felt guilt, guilt that I had let me body get so out of shape… that I have abused it for so long… not listening to it.

As I felt this guilt I felt my body/mind in union tell me it was okay, it was not my fault and I was here now and that is all that mattered. I heard the critical voice, the guilt voice, but also the soul… the union of body and mind comforting me. I felt gratitude for my body and mind for them showing up in the moment to support me through the postures. Gratitude I realized is a way out of the critical voice.

When I start to feel overwhelmed I switched to gratitude for what I was able to do and what I am capable of in the moment. You should try it when you feel yourself falling down the slippery slop of self-judgment and self harm… switch to gratitude and see how your body and mind change. What we give energy to grows. If a thought it not serving you then don’t give energy to it, let it pass as just a thought… it is not you. We cannot control our thoughts but we can control what we focus on after they arise.

Another thing we went over today that I found personally useful was the balance in the body between strength and flexibility and how they go hand in hand. My hips have always been notoriously tight and I though this was just due to flexibility but as I mentioned in my last post this inflexibility had a lot to do with the emotional pain I was holding in my hips but also that the muscles in my pelvis are not strong enough for me to do some poses. The inflexibility in the body was protecting me from hurting a muscle that is not strong enough and from emotional pain my body may feel I am not ready to processes. Remember that your body, mind, and soul are one… they communicate and work together with the Universe to guide you in this life.

Nameste