This is me, practicing the art of Self-Love, at The Oneness University, a 31 day intensive I attended in India last year 🙂

I became a yoga teacher because I FELL In LOVE WITH YOGA. I fell in love with yoga because it TEACHES ME ABOUT LIFE. Some of the hardest yoga we will ever do, is the yoga OFF OUR MAT, out in the world, in relationships, in our careers, in our own thought processes.

Yoga teaches us that it is not about what is happening or how much discomfort we may be feeling, IT’S ABOUT HOW WE RESPOND TO IT.

How do you respond to the discomfort in your life? DO you run from it, avoid it, try to make it something different?

I am inspired this morning by some personal challenges I have faced as of late. What it is showing me is to take another look, a DEEPER look, at how I respond to things. After all, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we will keep getting what we’ve always got. Personally, I AM ready to experience something better, something more aligned with who I really AM.

So the works begins.

Every now and then, just like we need to clean out our closet, or that junk drawer in the kitchen or office, we benefit greatly from cleaning out our thoughts, beliefs, and ways of doing things. This requires a few things. First, we must acknowledge we want to experience something different. Second, we need to admit to ourselves, that it’s time to start showing up differently in our lives and for ourselves. Third, it’s time to take a step back, to first become AWARE of what is no longer working, and then to feel our powerlessness around what to do differently.

Now, we could force and push and make things change and happen, however, in my experience it is best to sit. To be still. To observe and practice the art of WAITING. To NOT DO anything for as long as it it takes until clarity and INSPIRED action MOVE me forward. For me, this gets me all kinds of squirmy! Therefore, I KNOW it is a good thing. My natural default mode is to escape from discomfort as soon as possible in whatever way I can. So sitting THROUGH the discomfort, which yoga as well as other techniques have taught me to do, is the KEY to showing up differently in my life, for myself and others.

It can feel extremely uncomfortable and scary when we are moving through a time of many unknowns. The mind wants to KNOW. It would be happier making up negative stories about you and your future, than not knowing. So beware! This is our work! To remain conscious. To observe. To bring LOVE into the moment no matter what. TO FORGIVE our negative thoughts. To SEE ourselves fully without judging. To ALLOW things to unfold in their perfect way and timing. This is our practice. THIS is our yoga. The yoga of SELF-LOVE.

As I said above, I have had many challenges lately. Thankfully I have been through many in the past, and I know I came through them stronger and happier as a result, because I practiced, even when I didn’t want to. That said, it can be so tempting to give that negative self-talk, that gets louder in times of change, sad endings, and new-beginnings, our power. It does not deserve our POWER. Every time we buy into negative thoughts about ourselves, whether they come from us or outside sources, we FEED them. No more feeding the monster. Forgive your negative thoughts and move on. Instead, our yoga is to practice self-love. You will not be perfect at this which is why it is called PRACTICE. The practice itself, the effort, the attention to the application of a new loving way, in itself, IS AN ACT OF SELF-LOVE.

Each time we go through challenges, we get the opportunity to SEE something we didn’t see last time. We get the gift of LETTING GO of something that no longer supports us. We get to release people, places, and things and take responsibility for our own happiness, our own peace, our own life experience. We get to TAKE OUR POWER BACK.

What we all want is to FEEL something. We want to FEEL joy, abundance, connection, complete, peace, love, intimacy, freedom, powerful, acceptance, successful, accomplished, etc. The problem is we attach to what we think will give us these things, and we miss the boat way too often, and then wonder why we still don’t feel good.

Today, practice your yoga of self-love. Take an action in honor of this and perhaps let that action be asking yourself this question:

What do I REALLY want. How do I want to FEEL? Does this person, this idea, this goal, this (fill in the blank), truly, in all honesty, have the ability to grow in me, the feelings I DEEPLY desire?

Let me know what you find out! I love hearing from you in the comment section here on the blog or on FB! Love to you all!

Namaste,

Erin

P.S. I f you find yourself ready to go deeper in your personal growth and healing, and you feel open to working one-on-one with a life coach, please send us an email to [email protected], and together we can explore what Program and options may be the best for you.

If you are in the Vero Beach, FL and surrounding areas, you are in luck! Join us for A Journey Into The Heart! Starts November 16, 2014. Thank you!

I look forward to meeting you 🙂