I used to spend a lot of time criticizing how my body looked and comparing myself to other girls I saw in photographs, until I discovered yoga. Yoga is a great way to gain self-confidence. While practicing yoga, I focus on how my body feels to me, and not on what my body looks like to others.
In the ancient language of Sanskrit, yoga means 'unification'. Mystical visionaries called rishis (or rishika for females) first developed yoga in India about 5,000 years ago and wrote the philosophy into a collection of ancient sayings called the Vedas. The sayings describe a way of bringing together the visible world (bodies) with the invisible world (spirit).
Often when people think of yoga, they imagine people bending themselves into different contortions, but yoga develops more than physical flexibility. It brings our mind, spirit, and body together into balance. Many times, the poses that look the easiest can actually be the most challenging because they require us to focus our thoughts on just one thing – the posture. By learning how to focus our mind, we become more in tune with our bodies, and develop a calmer way of being.
Yoga can support us in becoming more creative, self-aware, and patient in our daily lives. It helps us to weather both physical and mental stress, like muscle tension, headaches, menstrual pain, and insomnia. Our immune system and digestion is supported as well, and through practicing yoga we gain intellectual, emotional, and physical energy. Since yoga is not competitive and adapts to each individual’s body, anyone can do it without fear of not being sufficiently flexible or strong.
Yoga is cheap and requires very little equipment. All I need is my body and a blanket or mat to spread on the floor, and I can do it almost anywhere. I spend a lot of my day sitting in front of a laptop, writing. Every hour or so, I roll my mat on the floor, take a couple of deep breaths, and move through a few yoga positions. Even if it’s just for a few minutes a day, yoga helps my body become stronger and more flexible and my mind to become focused and calm.
Image © Sathya Suren | Dreamstime.com