“You don’t need to be better than anyone else; you just need to be better than you used to be.” – Wayne Dyer
Besides the obvious physical benefits such as increased flexibility, strength, cardiovascular health etc..this is exactly what I find so endearing about the practice of yoga. You don’t need to be better than anyone else; you just need to be better than you used to be.
Every time you show up on your mat, your practice can be exactly what you need from it. There are no weights or clocks to tell you if you’re “better” than anyone else. If you want to spend the hour in shavasana… do it…it’s your practice.
This is to say nothing of the mental benefits of a consistent yoga…and hopefully meditation…practice. Personally, I have found my yoga practice to be a literally mind altering experience. I have never, in all my years, left a session with the same mindset, attitude or perspective as when I went in. This is true whether practicing solo or in a group setting.
Powerful stuff.
If you’re interested in trying yoga, but are afraid to join a studio, I highly recommend just visiting YouTube from your living room. A quick search yielded 23,000,000 results for “beginner yoga”.
Get some practice on your own, and then think about joining either a studio or a small group. I resisted and practiced alone for over 10 years before joining a studio. From experience I can tell you that the accountability of a peer group alone is worth the price of admission. Not only that, the hands-on instruction can help you break through some difficult to achieve poses the way working alone will never be able to.
1+1 = more than 2.
Similar to life, no?
See you on the journey. Or your mat…