8 Things Yoga Taught Me About Life

Dec. 26, 2011

By William Henderson info

William lives and writes in Boston.

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1. Be prepared to sweat. Hard work should make you sweat. Nothing worth having is going to come easy.

2. Go with the flow. Take your time. Don’t judge your own worth by comparing it to the person next to you. Life is a practice, not a competition. There is no winning, no losing. All you have to do is show up and try.

3. Practice as often as you can. The more you practice, the better you get — not that getting better should be your goal. There are no goals in yoga. Just breathe, be, and pretend not to stare at your reflection. You might stare at your reflection, but in time, you’ll stop seeing your flaws and you’ll see instead what isn’t flawed. The way your body bends and responds to a teacher, who will never command, just suggest.

4. If you brush against someone practicing next to you, realize you each have chosen to spend this hour together, in this space, in this way. Get to know the people practicing next to you. Say hi. Smile.

5. Do what you can at your own pace. Getting hurt is not the goal. Testing yourself can be the goal, but only if you’re ready to listen to your body. Don’t stand on your head if you’re not ready to take a fall.

6. And when you’re on your head, remember that you’re in the only position that puts your heart over your head. Love over logic. Who couldn’t benefit from leaping without looking and listening more often to your heart? Don’t talk yourself out of trying; be prepared to not get it right. Notice that you’re not prepared to fail. You’re prepared to do it wrong until you can do it right.

7. Underwear is optional.

8. Don’t forget to breathe. TC mark

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image – Robert Bejil Photography

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12 Comments

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  • http://twitter.com/TheRealMilaniaG Milania Giudice

    Can we not use this site for self-help passages? Keep it to humor.

  • Anonymous

    Wait… Since when was this supposed to be a humor site?

  • http://www.facebook.com/whitneydelk Whitney Leigh Delk

    “Underwear is optional.”

  • CAS

    It’s THOUGHT Catalog. Not HUMOR Catalog. 

  • Sophia

    I liked this. I really like yoga, but it’s always frustrated me because I can’t breathe correctly. I always run out too quickly to stay with the instructor, which gets everything off-kilter. 

  • Jake

    for one reason or another, i laugh at everything i read on thought catalog

  • http://www.facebook.com/grc15r Gregory Costa

    Auto-fellatio is a lot more difficult than it looks. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1363230138 Michael Koh

    do you stretch? stretching is key

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1363230138 Michael Koh

    queefing is the best name 

  • http://www.facebook.com/grc15r Gregory Costa

    I stretch as far as it’ll go without ripping off.  

  • http://www.nosexcity.com NoSexCity

    Get back into child’s pose, yo.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1363230138 Michael Koh

    i think using stones is stretching it a bit

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