"Yoga is not about touching your toes, it is about what you learn on the way down." - Jigar Gor

I see so many people stop themselves from trying yoga and seeing what yoga is for themselves. People say they are too old, too stiff, too sweaty, too inflexible, too out-of-shape, too out-of-time...

There is actually nothing about our body that stops us, what stops us is our minds.

Yoga is no harder than other forms of exercise and yoga invites you exactly as you are. However, yoga can build your strength, endurance, flexibility, balance, and it will heal, focus, clarify, calm you. Beautiful, flexible women as a symbol of yoga, which may first have been meant to be an inspiration, has turned into another instrument that we use for our self-beating and judgment. When you practice yoga, you will realize that yoga is not made to remind you of some mold that you do not fit in.

If you will only give it a try, you will find that yoga guides you to focus only on yourself, on the parts of you that are and forever will be delightful. Focusing on ourselves is a scary proposition for most of us because we know, we feel how we run away from all the things we are not happy with about ourselves.

Yoga teaches me to overcome fear. I am reminded that I am here and I am alive. I am awake. I am able. Able to do as much as I can and that is what I can do. To ask for more is nonsense. To do less is not myself. It is so easy to spew out yoga-meditative-spiritual sounding things that make no sense so I laugh a little myself too. Maybe the point of all these saying is to make you laugh... You laugh, then you hear stop running. And you take one moment, out of curiosity, laziness, desperation, lack of will to run further, to stop. To stand still. To take a breath. That's all yoga asks you to do. Then you have touched your toes.

One thing I have to make peace with often is that as human beings we are in a constant state of flux. From moment to moment, our thoughts evolve (so we hope), our mood changes, and energy shifts. Inevitably, at least as often as we feel on top of world, we may also feel incompetent, underqualified, useless, or helpless. So here I would like to share an exercise that I use to move me forward when I feel down for whatever reason. I would love to hear your ideas for how you get re-inspired!

Find out your Myers-Briggs personality type. Even if you have taken it before, take a refresher to see if your results surprise you.
List 5 things that you've done that was easy for you but not so easy for someone else (and feel free to list more!).
Get off your butt and get your energy flowing.
1. Start with a gentle forward bend.
2. Come back up, look up, look back over your head, stretch out.
3. Then open your arms wide, take a deep breath in, let it out!
Now, list the top 5 things that you lack that makes you feel underqualified.
For each of the items write why you believe it matters for you to have that quality and evaluate whether you do need/want that quality.
For each item from Section 3, write 3 things that you can do to be more qualified in each area. Out of the possible things you can do, pick the top 3 and do it!
Next, for each item from Section 3, think of 3 people who you know that know more about that area or do it better. Pick one person from each area to email/text/call/meet to better learn what they know.
If you feel frustrated again, you need another energy boost. Find a few songs on Spotify (or whatever music service you use) and make an Inspiration Playlist. Go wild.
Get back to learning something new. Search on Amazon for a book that covers the qualities you think you lack. Pick the top one for each area that you listed. Read it.
List 5 qualities that you didn't have a year ago. List 5 qualities that you didn't have 3 years ago.
To wrap up, think of 5 people that have complimented you on an idea you've had, something you've done, a quality they appreciate about you...drop them a quick note to say hi!