My Yoga Journey Part 2

My yoga opened my heart to light, love, peace and honor. It has done wonderful things to change my life. I believe all things are beautiful and I invite more peace into my heart.

I began yoga because I hated working out at the gym but knew I needed to do some sort of physical activity, other than walking. I fell in love with yoga because it brought me happiness. I felt energized, I felt peaceful, and I felt good in my body after every class. It was a beautiful form of practice, like a dance. I felt free. After working on my physical practice for a few years I wanted to know more about where yoga came from and what it was all about.

I began studying yoga on a deeper level. I realized that yoga was about more than just the poses. The yoga philosophy really spoke to me. And the more I read the more I wanted to know. Yoga philosophy teaches us peace, love and honor among many other things. It teaches us about joining the body, mind and spirit into one entity. And above all it teaches us happiness; that we are solely the ones responsible for our own happiness. Yoga has taught me about peace and self-love and to let things go. Do I still have a hard time letting go? Yes. Am I still high strung and a lot to handle? Of course. It is in my nature. I have always been this way. But I am working on changing, one day at a time. No change happens over night though. I recently learned that it takes a child 30 – 200 times to learn a new behavior or new pathway. We aren’t much different.

No doubt life gives us challenges. I have been working on taking my negative thoughts and pushing them aside. Living each day with positive thoughts and believing in myself and living a more peaceful life. My constant yoga practice and my daily devotions keep me in this mind set. I go about my day inviting more peace into my life. I work on accepting the changes happening around me. 2018 is about change and taking leaps and having faith. I put my faith in my yoga, the Universe, God and myself. I listen to the signs of the Universe, I pray to God and I believe in myself and my talents. There are days when I doubt myself though. Then I am reminded that I can do this and work on getting through those doubtful days. With a more peaceful heart and mind my yoga has brought more love into in my life.

Love was always an iffy subject for me. At one point I believed that love wasn’t for me, that I wasn’t supposed to end up with anyone. Due to a lack of prize winning relationships I didn’t have much faith. Then I got hurt. My heart ached, I cried all of the time. But I didn’t like who I was becoming. I had lost myself along the way. I had built a good foundation for my life, for me things were going to change. And then I ended up on a different path. It was like the forbidden forest, in Harry Potter. I was entering the unknown. I was scared. But I cared for this person. It took me awhile to realize that it wasn’t a forest I was entering it was a never ending labyrinth. There was no way out. Every direction I tried wound up being a dead end. I felt myself slowly crumbling apart. My foundation was no longer sound. During all of this I decided to pursue my yoga teach training. I had found a wonderful school with a delightful ray of sunshine instructor. This person brought a light into my life that I truly needed on some pretty dark days. The weekends I spent at teacher training were some of the best I had had in awhile. Being in a room full of like minded people is truly enlightening. This is where I found my love for yoga and love for myself. I ended up cutting my way out of that labyrinth tooth and nail. I had had enough. I needed better. I deserved better. And I am finding better. Love will come when it is supposed to but for right now loving myself and bettering myself is what is best.

Learning to honor myself is still a learning process. As I said I am high strung and a little too much for even the people who know me. I have learned to recognize my mistakes and when I am beginning to be a little too much I change my behavior. For me yoga is not all about the physical practice and if that is your thing good for you, honestly. Yoga is a beautiful tool; use it how you see fit. Yoga is deeper than the poses though. It’s about connection. It is about learning to connect with yourself. It is about loving yourself. For me it is about being someone that I would want to date. Would I want to date myself? Most of the time it is a yes. But I definitely have my days where I am like good lord get yourself together. I am definitely not boring. I have learned to accept this about myself and roll with it; recognizing my strengths and adjusting my faults. I do not push myself too hard, when I need rest I rest. When I need to work harder I remind myself that I can do this. Honoring my body and accepting myself for who I am is also something that yoga has also brought me. It has taught me to have more confidence in my body. I have always had parts of myself that I did not like. Yoga has taught me to love myself and my body for who and what I am. I feel better in my own body. I feel fit. I feel stronger. My consistent practice has allowed me to do things that were once just a goal. I still deal with problem areas but overall I have learned to take better care of myself. And be a person who I can love. Life is about what you make it.

Yoga is also about peace and loving all of God’s creatures human and animal alike. I try to treat all creatures equally, but it is hard sometimes especially when I encounter some asshole on the highway who is tailing me. I understand about being in a hurry and I will admit that I am sometimes a jerk on the road but I honestly do not get what all of these people could be in a hurry to get to that they would risk their lives by driving like a maniac. I then remember that they are human and wish them well, sometimes with a bit of sarcasm. I am kind to strangers and I try to smile at everyone. Even one smile can make a person’s day better. I believe all people are beautiful and I try not to judge them too quickly. People are human we are susceptible to mistakes. Animals on the other hand are a lot easier to be nice to and to be honest I like most animals more than I like people. I try not to kill bugs letting them go about their business. However working with children that is not always the case there are times when I will have to squish a bug or the fact that living by myself I do not want that bug coming at me in my sleep or while I am in the shower. I say a peaceful prayer for that squished bug and go about my business. I am known for letting spiders out of the house and I have a rescued pet snake, Sal (Salazar Slytherin for all you Harry Potter fans). I am an animal lover through and through. Yoga didn’t have to teach me that but it has definitely given me a different light to look at things with.

Overall yoga I believe has made me a better person. Of course I still have my moments, we all do we are human. But I will continue to practice and preach what I learn on and off my mat.

Xo

Namaste

Kelly

P.s. Have the right mind set, the will to do it and work towards your goals life can be great. Let me know in the comments what yoga has brought you or if yoga has changed your life. I’d love to make this a conversation.