Today was day 8 of my 30 Days of Yoga Challenge.

Today I turned a corner…

Yesterday I spoke of this body I no longer recognized and saw as a prison. Today I am full of gratitude and love for this body I have been blessed with. This body which has stood by me and stayed strong through all of the trials I have put it through. Why is it that we treat our body as if it doesn’t matter when it is arguably the only thing that does matter?? This body is the only one we get! This one sweet, precious and fragile life is all we get!

Today I walk with a renewed appreciation…

I was humbled during my practice this morning. Nostalgically remembering all I used to be able to do and how strong I used to be in my practices, I had to work with the tools I had this morning. I could no longer hold side plank until the instructor moved into the next pose, I could no longer catch the bind in side angle pose, bow seemed impossible and quite uncomfortable, even the low runners lunge just didn’t feel as sweet as it once did. As I lay still in savasana, I had to ask myself why?? Why had I let all of these things slip away? I can’t answer that but I can see the valuable lesson I am now learning through this rebuilding phase. Come as you are, yoga is for everyone! I needed to relearn how precious my body was and be humbled by a practice that was challenging and forced me to listen to my body (thanks to Bryan Kest for that one). I needed this!

Today I thank you Lord…

I read a statistic recently that said you are most likely to feel the same way about your body as your mother feels about hers. That is so powerful!! I have a gift and an opportunity to pass on to the next generation. I can help others see how amazing and strong they are simply by acknowledging my own gifts and feeling confident in them! So today I thank the Lord God for all the gifts that he has given me and my prayer today is that he would help me to love and appreciate myself so that I can help others love and appreciate themselves!

This thought reminds me of a quote…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? 

You are a Child of God! You playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that in within us. it’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others!”

-Marianne Williamson

~Namaste~