The first time I ever tried yoga I hated it. I was a swimmer and was used to the push and grind of more, more, more. What was this quiet exercise? I felt bored and thought it was pointless because to me, at the time, it was “stretching.” I felt much more comfortable with hard cardio, push-ups, weights, and pure adrenaline rushes. I was seeking that high and I couldn’t get with the program.
But as I deepened my spiritual practice and practiced meditation I decided to give yoga a try again.
Last winter I was in need of some healing. I wasn’t eating. I wasn’t sleeping. I was emotionally wounded and my body was suffering. My soul wasn’t comfortable being in my body. Frankly, I was disappearing.
I needed a change and that was when I made the first investment I’ve ever made on myself EVER. I committed to a membership of yoga.
My goal for the practice was not to conquer the poses but to understand breath. I went through the practice and would contort my body in ways it wasn’t used to. I sweated in the heat (I chose hot vinyasa) and my whole being was pushed to limits it wasn’t used to. My muscles were strained, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and I was attempting to move my body into a picturesque image. In every second my body would want to give in but I breathed. I inhaled and I exhaled. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.
This became my practice. The practice of being uncomfortable, expanding my movement, and breathing through the pain. In the inhale, I gathered energy and in the exhale I released the tension. The breath is our life force. I saw myself improving in yoga and started carrying this practice over into other areas of my life. I used the quote, “getting comfortable with the uncomfortable” as my mantra. The conflict of not accepting difficulties weakened. I instead, opened up my energy to it. I began to heal and surrendered myself to the experience. Just like yoga, life threw at me experiences that made me want to collapse but I released the need to control. I accepted it and “got comfortable with the uncomfortable”.
All this healing started because I Chose Me.
About the Author:
Julie Pham is a spiritual worker that empowers women to tap into their intuition. She started out with a degree in Mathematics but realized that there was something stronger calling her. She dove right into it and fully realized her gifts in the intuitive realm. Julie performs readings, coaching, and healings.
1 Comment
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You said : ” The practice of being uncomfortable, expanding my movement, and breathing through the pain.”
It mentions pain. If you are doing it right, there is no pain in the body. And any of the real Yoga gurus would agree to that. Pain means wrong technique.
