Self Worth: Body Image in Yoga (P 2)

January 17, 5:03 AMTampa Yoga ExaminerDanielle Hope Hier

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Tampa Yoga Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

When you look at yourself in the mirror during yoga class, what’s the first thought that crosses your mind?  Is it that you’re noticing your back is rounded and you need to flatten it by lengthening the spine for technical correctness?  Is it that you can’t help but notice that your Warrior Pose is much nicer than the person standing on the next mat over? Or, are you thinking how ugly you look and wish you weren’t in front of the mirror?

Maybe you attend a class where there are no mirrors, to which I would ask, “How do you feel about yourself when you’re going through your asanas?"  You may have never noticed before.

In part one of  Anorexia: Body Image in Yoga, I mentioned the process of a woman learning to appreciate her body, learning to love herself as she was vs. how she thought she should be.  The irony in this is that we do our health and bodies a much better service by approaching our practice by honoring self, because it is through that window in which we’ll get a better sense of who we are. 

Criticizing our image won’t help, nor will saying, “This is just the way I am, oh well.”  

So, while I am saying, “Accept your body”, I am not saying, “Just give up on it.”

Step one in assessing body awareness - and cultivating self-appreciation - begins with a look at our internal dialog.  The mirror is external, and easily draws up judgments in ourselves.  But without one, take a moment to close your eyes in any pose where you feel balanced doing so, and take note of what you find yourself thinking about yourself or feeling.  You may be surprised to learn that there’s an uncomfortable edginess you never noticed before.

What do you do with this image or feeling once you find it?  No matter whether you feel as if you are too thin, too heavy, too out of shape, too unworthy or too sad, you need to acknowledge that thought as a gift, and thank it for making itself known to you.

Once you are aware, then you can begin to address changing that thought pattern and therefore adapting your yoga practice into something more beneficial.  

Step one is simply awareness and acknowledgement, and recognizing that this judgment is not representative of the true Self.  Can you change that thought into something that would better serve you?  Not to an overinflated sense of “My pose is better than your pose” but can you look and feel as if you are exactly how you should be at that moment?

Step two will lead us into cultivating a positive outlook and a critique from a loving and nonjudgmental perception.  For now, become aware, and if it becomes too negative, remind yourself, “My true Self is perfect, just as it is presently.”

Have you read....

OPENING THE KIMONO: A WOMAN'S INTIMATE JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE'S BIGGEST CHALLENGES

By award winning author Theresa Rose?