Self Talk in Your Yoga Practice

Self talk can influence our yoga practice, personal life, business relationships, and sense of fulfillment.  This interview  with Michael Sutton and Dena Breslin introduces ideas about where our self talk comes from, and who put those phrases in our heads.  

Your thoughts may seem perfectly normal and reasonable to you, but could you be more positive?  The Mayo Clinic  states that positive thinkers experience greater resistance to the common cold, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, increased life span, reduced levels of distress and depression, and better well being.  

One of the types of negative self thought that the mayo clinic mentioned in the above link is polarization.  This commonly occurs in yoga practice.  When the instructor cues a choice between child's pose and downward facing dog, do you take downdog just because you want to do the harder (self labeled better) pose?  Do you compare your practice to other's practices?  Do you shy away from the restorative class because it's "better" to turn your yoga class into a "workout"?  

If any of this seems familiar, you need turn inward, and turn off those thoughts.  There aren't good or bad poses.  A yoga or meditation practice is a great way to begin to give the voices in your head a break.  Don't judge yourself or the poses (we all have favorites, but try to approach them all with joy, strength, and ease).  Once you find success during your practice, it will begin to influence the rest of your life.  

Tao Porchon-Lynch is a 96 year old yoga instructor who doesn't believe in age, and really embodies positivity.  I really love her thoughts on self talk.  "Whatever you put in your mind materializes.  So if you put negative thoughts, you draw toward you negative things.  So be positive, just look for good."

Our minds tend to filter out things and label them as good or bad.  What if we could experience our practices and our lives and really see more of the positivity and beauty?  The world is a beautiful place, and our practices are all beautiful as they are.  We just have to open up our eyes and see them that way.  Embrace the good, soften the edges in your body and mind, and enjoy each moment.  Just look for good!

Namaste - Beth