Love your body.

Befriending your body is one of the gifts of yoga that I hope is central to my teachings.

I want you to love your body the way it is right now. I have been trained to see the beauty in you. I have been trained to look for what is going right first and what can be improved second. Whatever poses you can or can not do your body really is the most miraculous thing.

But loving your own body is easier to say than to do, especially as we get older.

As some of you know, I like to make yoga videos so students can do some yoga at home. I enjoy this as a creative process and a form of self expression. But here is the thing, when i’m editing the videos I have to look at myself – a lot. Over and over again. So while I struggle with it, here is a honest dialogue in my head. ‘Is that what i look like from the side? Where did that extra chin come from? Gosh – i guess i should lose that 10 pounds the camera adds. All those slightly saggy bits, the side view! (cringe) “

I want to model compassion and acceptance for your body so I struggle with this!

I feel good, my body can work hard, climb mountains, walk for miles, squat to weed my garden and do a kick ass yoga practice.

So why am I so critical of it when I am editing videos?

Here are some previously unexamined beliefs I am working on.

Yoga teachers should be thin.

Younger is better than older.

Beauty is for others to decide.

I feel better just writing those down!

I can see what is keeping me from really enjoying the body I have now. I hold myself back from a loving relationship with the only home I really have. The body is temporary. Love it while you can.

What are some of the beliefs that hold you back from loving your body?