Yoga Journey

When I first started yoga, I experienced waves of progression….one right after another. Each week, I was able to perform a new pose or get deeper into one. This lasted for a couple months but then things slowed down quite a bit. I was not seeing any improvement in my physical practice. Everything seemed so difficult and impossible. Then, I had another breakthrough…only to be followed by another dry spell.

I wondered what I was doing wrong and why I was not consistently improving. Then, it came to me! Every time I stressed myself out about a particular posture/pose, I did not make any progress. When I let go of the expectations and just “flowed”, it eventually came to be. It may take longer but it still manifested.

After I had the realization that I was the only thing holding myself back, I tried not to stress out about yoga anymore. Sure I want to be the best but there will always be someone else out there better than me. Yoga is supposed to be the opposite of stressful. All I can do is keep practicing and make myself better. Progress comes slow now as I become more advanced in my practice because all of the basics have already come to be. I have many more challenging poses and sequences ahead of me and those take time to learn and master. I just need to remind myself to be patient.

After all, yoga is a journey…not a destination. It is about what you learn on the way to a particular pose or sequence. It is a lifetime practice. It is YOUR practice. Do not compare your practice to others. Just concentrate on yourself because it is in this mental state that you grow the most.