Find Your Yoga Body...

Some people say, “Oh my goodness – she doesn’t have a yoga body,” like a yoga body supposed to be this one hundred pound, super-toned pretzel of a person – and there are plenty of people who have that!

But yoga is for every body. Seriously – every body! Yoga does not care how much you weigh, what color your hair is, what color your skin is, how flexible you are, if you are rich or poor; yoga only cares about the truth that lies deep within you. 

I can’t even begin to tell you how strong I feel and in love I am with my “body” through the beautiful practice of yoga. My yoga body.

Holding myself up in downward facing dog; standing firm in my feet, my shoulders, my biceps, my triceps, my hamstrings, my quadriceps, my abdominal muscles, my back – most of all my mind and my heart!

By having my own practice – flowing with my own breath, holding my own weight, listening to the rhythm of my heart – I have connected with my inner truth. My inner light.

But society still creeps in and breeds insecurities: magazines, Facebook, Instagram, tv, movies, music – all of these images in our face telling us who we should be, rather than to be who we are already – who we have been from the beginning of time.

Yoga brings us to that place. It is “the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” – The Bhagavad Gita

Through my own practice, my own journey, I have found a copious amount of self-love that I am not sure I would have ever discovered without yoga.

I can look in to the mirror and see beauty and a true friend. “And I said to my body softly ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied ‘I have been waiting my whole life for this…'”

How long have we all been waiting to love ourselves? We tell ourselves: “Oh, well I’ll be perfect if I get into that size 2 dress,” or “I will be perfect if I have a rock hard six pack.” We always place stipulations on loving ourselves.

Yoga teaches us to live in the present, not the future and not the past. This exact moment – this is the only moment that matters; a second ago no longer matters and a second ahead no longer matters – in this exact moment – why not be happy with that beating heart that is supplying blood to your organs? Those lungs that are providing oxygen to your blood, that goes to your heart, that goes to your brain?

Be thankful for all that you are.

To learn how to connect better with your body and develop a self-love, you can begin by:

• A simple meditation.
• Set an intention at the beginning of your practice.
• Practice mantras: “I love myself”; “I am love”; “I am strong”; “My body is a beautiful vessel” etc.
• Wear rose quartz. It is a crystal of love, and promotes self-love and heals the heart.
• Flow.
• Practice a nice fluid vinyasa sequence and just feel your body move, feel your lungs working, your heart pumping. This will help you connect to your body.
• Lie in Supta Baddha Konasana: the bottoms of your feet together with knees wide apart, place one hand on your heart and the other on your belly. Feel the rise and fall of your body, your breath, and the hard work you’ve put into your yoga practice.
• Honor your body and intentions.
• Treat yourself with the respect that you give others.
• Undress yourself and look into the mirror.
• Learn to love what you have because I can assure you – it is beautiful.

By just adding a few of these to your daily or weekly regimen, you can begin to find that your body is a yoga body!

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