I wanted to share some thoughts I had tonight during Yoga class. First, I just want to say that I love this Yoga Instructor because she combines a lot of Anatomy into her poses. As a Massage Therapist this is a helpful refresher, as well as a great way to help me engage fully into the practice. I've gone to a lot of Yoga classes and this is the only one where I felt like I could fully engage in the process of meditation and movement. When we become fully aware of how our body is moving we can fully engage in the mind/body connection and work as one within ourselves: moving in one fluid movement with our thoughts, accepting ourselves as we are, and fully embracing ourselves with grace. As a runner I appreciate yoga because, although running can become meditative, yoga helps combine the mind, body and deep breathing on a different level. Its a workout that engages our parasympathetic nervous system in a way that running does not. Another thing I was reminded of tonight was how many of us live in fear of our bodies. We constantly say things like, "I'm fat, I'm ugly, I'm stupid, I'm too injured, I'm too old, etc... But what we focus on expands. What we speak often times comes to be. What our mind tells us our body does. The first step toward healing is to accept ourselves just as we are in the present moment. We are not too old to live our happiness. We are not too fat to move our bodies. We are not too stupid to learn new things. Our world focuses so much on what we cannot do. A lot of this negativity comes from western medicine, which often tells us the age of deterioration--the age where we start to fall apart. They tell us that it's normal to wake up every morning with a new injury, become sick often and that we need to take drugs to mask the pain. And that's just it, drugs "mask" the pain. They don't heal us. If we truly want to heal, we must do so by looking inward, by accepting where we are and taking the necessary steps to improve each day and become more accepting and knowledgeable of our own body and mind. So many people live with a vast disconnect between their mind and body. We stuff emotions, we stuff feelings, we don't accept ourselves for who we are, but instead live as a phantom of our true selves. We live in fear of being judged by others, we don't take the time to find out who we truly are underneath the mirage. But the one thing I've learned the past decade of my life, is that I've never been happier than when I've been my true self. It took me a while to get to this place of acceptance, but the journey is always worth the struggle, the heartache, and the pain of getting to know ourselves. Do you feel a disconnect between your mind and body? How have your struggles taught you valuable lessons? Share your thoughts!
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