We cannot overestimate the importance of accepting ourselves exactly as we are right now, not as we wish we were or think we ought to be.
Kindness, Friendliness and compassion for ourselves as we are, is the first step in practicing yoga mindfully.
One of the most important relationships we can cultivate in this life-time is our own wise and compassionate relationship with ourselves.
When we practice yoga we are engaging in a moment-by-moment friendship with ourselves just as we are.
- As we listen to the teacher’s instructions we will be challenging our bodies and minds in different ways.
- We attend to this task with a willingness to experience what is here.
- We look and listen to our bodies and minds for what is happening now.
- Can I be still in this position or is an adjustment required?
- We learn to be content with our best today.
From this practice of paying attention, on-purpose, in the present-moment non-judgmentally, we are cultivating the circuitry in our brains for Direct Sensory Experience, Versus the “Narrative Circuitry” which is when the mind is lost in thinking about ourselves and our lives, when we lost in stories.
From this practice we develop compassion for ourselves, we are befriending ourselves.
We are learning to be kind to whatever arises in our experience (even resistance, judgment, and aversion). We learn to begin again with kindness, to return to the present moment.
Practice is available to us anytime and anywhere. Click here for a short video of practicing Outdoors.
The Next step, is a natural one. Kindness, Friendliness and compassion extends out into the world like a wave, thereby affecting all our relationships in a new way.