By Guest Writer Chelsea Watson
As a yoga teacher, there seems to be an underlying theme in all my classes these days, and that is the practice of self-love and acceptance. I have received many blessings and benefits from practising yoga over the years, and I feel that one of the most life changing is the act of being a little kinder to myself. Sounds simple, but not always easy. It is said that we teach what we need to learn, and this was certainly true in my case.
For many years, I created a state of suffering for myself through my own negative inner dialogue. This harsh inner critic still shows up, but now I have the tools to recognise it and work with it.
The practice of Ahimsa or non-harm is an important practice on our path of yoga. Ahimsa goes far beyond not physically hurting ourselves or another. If we pay close attention to our inner dialogue, for most of us it can be rather harsh at times. As human beings, we all share this burden of self judgement and doubt.
Often when we give ourselves a hard time in our practice, it comes back to this lack of self-love. This might show up on our yoga mat as pushing ourselves physically, shaming our body, getting frustrated when our bodies don’t do what we want them to do, comparing our practice to others or what we may have been able to do in the past. The list is endless…
The first step towards self-love and acceptance is to be mindful. Jon Kabat Zinn has defined mindfulness as ‘paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally’.
We first need the mindfulness to become aware of when we might be being overly critical. We need to be able to notice when we’re struggling, and instead of resisting it or spinning out of control, we can see that we’re having a hard time and offer ourselves some kindness and support in those moments.
It is also helpful to keep in mind that we can’t just go from self-loathing to loving ourselves. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. When we’re not feeling loving or connected, we can actually resent being told to love our self, and it is not something that we want to force. One thing that we can do however, is to take a step towards being kind.
When we slow down and listen within, it allows us to see the way that we treat ourselves and when we are creating painful inner states. It is through the witnessing that we start to create some space around the situation. A helpful gesture might be to offer ourselves some kind words in these moments, or place our hands over our heart and start to feel that connection. Whatever feels natural for each of us.
This practice of finding a little love for our self matters, and it is truly worth doing. I know firsthand that it can transform the way we live in the world.
May we be kind, to ourselves and to each other.
You can join Chelsea in class on Tuesday mornings
Image @tylerfeder
