5 things yoga has taught me.

I haven't been here for a while (okey, I know, I completely forgot about this blog) but I was writing new post for the past few weeks. I just couldn't finish it so now I'm writing another one. Because, why not? So the topic of my scribble, as you can see in the title is: 5 things yoga has taught me. Of course yoga has taught and is still teaching me many more things but at this point of my yoga journey I want to present you 5 the most significant.

Let me start with my short yoga story. I'm doing yoga 2 times a week (sometimes I practice at yoga studio, sometimes at home and in the end it turns out that I do asanas everyday ;) for over a year. It's not a long period of time but with regular practice I'm getting better and better. Remember: practice makes perfect. 

1. It has taught me to be more patient. Yeah, patience is something I've always had problem with. All my life I wanted everything at once, without waiting or doing anything, the only thing I was interested in was result. One fail was enough for me to stop what I was doing. Now I'm aware that to see results I have to come to this and be determined to finish what I started. Twelve months ago I couldn't even reach the floor with my fingers and straight legs and now I can lay my head on knees.

2. I'm looking in a different way at my body and my workout routine. Before I started doing yoga I had worked out a lot because I wanted to make my body fit and I hadn't felt comfortable with it. Now I work out to have strenght and power, because it makes me happy and I simply love it (especially yoga). And I realised that perfect body just doesn't exist. Everybody is different so we shouldn't try to look like somebody else. I work out because I love my body not because I hate it, it's one of the biggest progress for me. 

3. It has taught me how to breathe. Yes, something as simple as breathing is usually underestimate. I was simply forgetting to breathe, maybe not literally but more figuratively. Yoga taught me how to breathe properly. When I'm stressed, nervous, furious, cheerless or in any other mood I just breathe, it brings back balance and peace to my mind. And believe me or not, breathing in some kind of situations is difficult.

4. Listening to my body (and mind). To its desires or needs. If I feel like reading a book I just leave everything and start to read. If I want to drink some red wine, I will because my body wants this. And also if my mind need to rest i'll let it not to think for a while. Be kind to yourself, you deserve it.

5. Falls and mistakes are okay. When something seems impossible don't give up on this because you can fail. If you do, you'll try again. And again, and again until you achieve your goal. I believe that mistakes are needed because we learn from them. Failures too because they give us priceless lessons we never learn from other people. So keep trying and gain knowledge and skills from your own experiences.

So these are my five most important lessons that yoga has taught me. Summarizing, I've learnt how to live a happy life.

          
                                              Tara Stiles and Laura Sykora