Philosophy

I am Not Flexible

As a yoga instructor I often hear “i am not flexible enough”, “I am not in good shape to practice yoga”, “this other person is so much better than I am”…and many other blockages that keep people from practicing yoga. Here are my answers to these comments:

I was not flexible when I started my practice. In fact it took me many years to become flexible enough, and even now when I take some time off I lose some of it. But I don’t worry too much about because I know that I can regain what I’ve lost by getting back into my practice.
I love to see people who are out of shape on the mat. They are practicing and that’s what matters! They’re off the couch and onto the mat! They’re moving towards a health. They’re trying to improve their lives. Another tidbit, which has to do with the idea below, is that if you’re at a yoga studio people cannot be staring at you or else they’ll fall out of the pose. And judgment is antithetical to the practice of yoga.
Who cares what the other practitioner is doing, your first job is to take care of yourself. We’re all learning new things about our practices and our bodies all the time and it’s a life long journey. Every day is different on the body. You have good and bad days with your practice and that’s life. It happens to everyone. I am still learning new poses after a decade and a half, and I believe I will always be learning new things about my body.

Let the excuses go! Give yoga a try…then try again. And again and again and again and again. It all comes back to practicing and enjoying the journey with love and care for yourself. I will see you at the yoga mat!

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