Don't Be Rude to Your Body...

“Don’t be rude to your body…” Bryan Kest

I wrote this blog 3 years ago after an intense yoga workshop that cracked open my heart... teaching me to love my body! I hope you all find self-love within yourself! 

How many times have you been told by the people that raised you- “Don’t be rude.” They taught you manners in regards to an endless amount of behaviors (or maybe they didn’t) such as: open the doors for ladies, respect your elders, don’t eat with your mouth full, treat others as you would like to be treated, don’t call people names, respect others stuff- the list could honestly go on and on. I know personally for myself, my family instilled in me to be as polite and courteous of others as I could possibly be. But you know what- I’ve never treated my own self with that same respect and consideration.

My entire life I have been so concerned with not being rude to others that I have failed to realize how much of a bitch I have been to myself! Wake up call!

I received this wakeup call as I was an hour in to a Bryan Kest Workshop. He was telling us that this workshop wasn’t designed with hard poses, they were very simple asanas, but what was hard was listening to our own bodies and respecting them for all they are. When you need a break- don’t be so prideful to not go into balasana. Take it! Listen to your breath- this energy that drives this machine!
Holy crap- what have I been doing the last 28 years?!?!

The last 28 years I have been so concerned with everyone else around me, and not offending them, that I have forgotten to take care of me. To nurture my body. To love my body. I’ve filled it full of junk food, alcohol, skipped workouts, a few cigarettes here and there, I have even looked in the mirror and just wished that I could die because my body wasn’t thin like all of the models in the world. How rude!!

I was given this amazing machine, this vehicle, to carry my soul through this journey of life- and I have neglected it. I have taken advantage of all that it is.

I made a vow to myself that day to stop being rude to my body. To listen to its aches, its pains, its triumphs. To know when enough is enough, when I need a little more. To admire what it does every day simply by breathing! How complex this machine truly is!

I learned that for me to treat others with kindness and respect- it must start with me. I must learn to love my body and treat it with utmost respect. I must treat it with the kindness I show my elders. With the respect I give when I open the doors for others. With the love I give when I hug a child. I must show my body that it is doing a wonderful job and I am forever grateful for each and every breath it allows me to inhale and exhale.

“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”
~ Miss Monroe

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~Hannah Hutcheson

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