Yoga goes way beyond stretching. The life lessons I learned on my yoga mat have influenced my life in ways so profound that it is difficult to describe.
In this article, I will still try to describe them!
Here are just six of the hundreds of ways my time on my yoga mat impacts my life in other ways (in no particular order):
1. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Can I practice my Nemesis pose, Revolved Triangle, without a block?
Surah. But when I do this, my spine rounds, my chest collapses, my back heel lifts, my brows furrow, and I get upset because I hate this pose *($#) so much.
So many things in life are like that.
Can I hustle every day of the week taking my kids to different activities? Yes. But is this how we will achieve our goals of ease and harmony during an already busy work week? Certainly not.
Can I get away with wearing the same worn-out women’s running shoes that I’ve used for the past three years? Yes, again. But will it be healthy for my body? No.
Can I eat candy for dinner every night if I want? I can. I’m an adult, dammit! But is it a smart choice? 🤔
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Sometimes challenging yourself is exactly what you need. Sometimes you need to practice only the poses that feel good. Other times you need permission to do less. Or you need to try something different to find a better balance.
And my yoga practice has helped me immensely in making these types of decisions skillfully.
2. Let go of what doesn’t serve you.
This little aphorism is repeated so much in yoga classes that it almost loses all meaning. Let go. Let go of judgment. Let go of expectations. Let go of toxic people.
Let it go, let it go, let it go. It was a cliché, even before Elsa.
And while this instruction is a very good reminder to keep those shoulders away from your ears, consider this:
You can’t order yourself to stop tensing and hope it works. It doesn’t work that way. We have spent hours (and in some cases YEARS) creating this tension that we chronically carry on our shoulders. For most of us, it takes an hour-long yoga class to start sorting through this shit. You must first be aware. Next, skillful movements and breathing. And finally a little acceptance, which helps you finally stop struggling and soften. The tension dissipates just a little.
And guess what? When you come back to your workout tomorrow, you can do the same thing again.
And that’s how it works with life, too. Want to “get rid” of the clutter in your home that doesn’t serve you? You could throw it all away and vow to never let it in again.
But you are still you.
And you will create that same mess again if you don’t work on awareness, skillfully interrupting your patterns and accepting that this mess is also a beautiful part of you.
(Seriously, throw out that bra with the itchy underwire and get a new comfortable sports bra instead.)
3. Don’t compare yourself to others.
I was recently triggered by a podcast interview. It was with a mom who had managed to build a thriving business as a yoga instructor while having babies under 3 at home with her. I had this visceral, instinctive reaction: when my children were so little, I could barely take care of myself and my little ones! I must have done something wrong.
Then I realized there were so many variables I didn’t know about this mom. It’s like watching Karen in the front row of a yoga class with her perfect balance. And I feel bad about yours.
Maybe the lady in the front row started doing gymnastics when she was 2 years old.
Or maybe she’s been taking private lessons for 15 years with a yoga master.
Maybe she was born to be able to do a handstand, but her hamstrings are tight and weak.
We don’t know his story. We don’t know what advantages she had to help her get to where she is. So it’s not fair to compare our poses to his.
And we also don’t know what advantages this mom had with her booming business. At the very least, I guess she had a few extra hands to help take care of the kids so she could work on her business.
I would never downplay his hard work and accomplishments. But I can celebrate it without putting myself down.
4. Your body is a trusted advisor.
When there are countless choices (35,000 decisions a day for the average adult…much more for parents) and opinions everywhere, and it’s too easy to doubt yourself.
My time on my yoga mat has taught me that when I’m confused by conflicting advice, when I don’t know which way to turn, my body can be like a trusted advisor for decisions big and small.
Try it:
When you consider doing something, does your breathing naturally deepen or contract? Do your muscles feel soft and relaxed, or do you feel tension? (Check with your usual tight areas). Without any external input (advice from friends, blog posts or videos on the subject, etc.), what was your first instinct? After gathering a little more information, does your gut feel the same way?
We all have blind spots. And having more information is almost always a good thing. But too often we let ourselves get sidetracked from what we know is right because we can’t explain WHY it feels right.
When there is no clear “right” or “wrong,” trust your body to guide you in the right direction, because there is deep wisdom there, even if it cannot be explained.
5. It’s okay to fall.
If you don’t try, you will never succeed. But the more you try anything, whatever it is, the more you fail. And that doesn’t make you a failure. It shows that you are trying.
It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again.
Some days balance seems easy. Some days you lose all the poses. And what do all beginning yoga students do when we fall? We look around to see if anyone else has noticed. But it’s so normal to lose a pose in yoga class that no one looks up. Plus, they’re all trying not to fall.
Falling is part of the process. This is how you improve your balance. And it’s an expected part of every balance pose.
The same is true in life. Try something new. Laugh at yourself. (Because actually, it’s not that bad, is it?)
Learn something. Try again. Repeat until you die.
6. Rest is productive.
I often joke that as a yoga teacher I talk about love and light, non-violence and acceptance…
But I will attack you if you try to leave my class before Savasana.
Savasana (Final Resting Pose) is magical. And the emphasis on rest is something I care most about in yoga.
For what? Because everywhere else in my life the focus is on doing more, going further, trying harder, and pushing through. And I discovered that you can only go so far before you hit a wall and collapse.
We all want to be productive. But have you ever noticed that in those moments when you’re pushing yourself, you may be able to maintain the facade of “work”, but you’re not actually getting much done? Or the things you do just aren’t your best work.
It can’t just be me. As humans, we must work hard and be productive. And we also need time to rest and recharge. Our body needs rest to rebuild itself. And our mind needs rest and time to wander aimlessly in daydreams and whatever thoughts come to mind.
This is an important and productive time. And my yoga practice reminds me of this every time I hear those magic words “rest” at the end of a yoga session.
What life lessons have you learned from your yoga class? Comment below and share!