Do you skip your yoga class more often than you like?

And how to change this

Do you know that feeling? Where you postpone your yoga practice because the circumstances are not perfect? How do you pass the limiting beliefs than keep you from going? That is what this yoga blog is about.

Limiting beliefs

I also know those limiting beliefs personally. And students also told me about theirs. Like "I still have too much work to do". Or, when you're just sitting on the couch, thinking that it might be better to skip this day to take some rest (together with "I'm really going tomorrow"). Or that you first want to lose a few pounds (because what will the others think about you, or even worse ... ask questions). Or thinking that you really cannot get up so early to do your yoga practice first, because you also have to sleep enough, right? Which limiting beliefs are keeping you from practicing yoga as much as you would like?

The funny thing is that these kinds of thoughts can actually easily be reversed. Like that your yoga practice will make you able do your work so much more effectively and efficiently that you will have more time left than the yoga class takes up. That you need less hours of sleep when you practice yoga. And I think that there not that many people who replenish more from a Netflix night or social media than by practicing yoga postures. And isn’t it contradictory not to go to your yoga class if you would like to lose a few pounds? Besides that you probably look way better than you think and that you can find a lot of helpful compassion in most yoga studios. And in the yoga class itself, everybody is actually too busy with his/her own practice... since that's already enough of a challenge. Why are we then getting in our own way, again and again? Why then doesn’t it always help to remind ourselves of those other perspectives?

It is remarkable that we have much less limiting beliefs popping up if one has been practicing yoga as much as you would like to. So, if we were already able to go beyond the limiting believes lately. That we have been successful in saying no to certain things to be able to say yes to yoga. That we have already used self-compassion to allow ourselves to practice yoga.

The difference might be in that you then already have been moving the stress out of your body and created circumstances for less stress in your live.

Fight, Flight or Freeze

If we experience something as negative, our 'normal' reaction is to fight against this (whereby you meet it with resistance) or flee from it (where you actually choose to postpone it, without solving it). However, if we don’t know if we have to fight or flee, we will freeze. And the state in which we freeze again goes hand in hand with problems such as inability to articulate, inability to relax and concentration problems. In fact, a negative perceived situation is therefore associated with 'fight, flight or freeze'.

If we encounter a real life-threatening situation (such as being chased by a wild animal), the 'fight or flight' mode is a logical choice. However, most situations in our lives are not that life threatening. Including the reasons why to go or not to go to your yoga class. If you actually have the desire to go to your yoga class, then it is actually quite a waste of your energy and good vibes to spend it on fighting (I have too much work), flight / postpone (I'll go later / tomorrow ) or freeze (for example by  checking your social media feed again).

Remove the stress

The best way to go to your yoga class is to ensure that you already experience less stress and negativity. As by your yoga practice itself, whereby you can let go of the stress-related emotions (which have become stucked in your body) through the movements in the yoga postures. And which increases the vibration of your state of mind. That’s why a short yoga practice is already a truly smart start.

But of course this blog is about what you can do if you have ended up in a vicious circle that keeps you from practicing yoga. And especially that step to start practicing yoga seems too big. What you can do then is to take away the stress of this step by examining your limiting belief to release it. By following your line of thought what would happen if your conviction really took place. And what you think the consequences might be. Keep on asking yourself about the next consequence until you feel the stress is releasing. Usually by then your answers put a smile on your face. For this you can ask yourself the following questions:

• What are you afraid of?
• And what if that happens?
• If what if that happens (with regard to your previous answer)?
• Go on for as long as it takes until your answers put a (hint of a) smile on your face.

Don’t be surprised if your line of thought eventually ends with death and even extinction or something similar. Hereby it is important is that you keep on asking (perhaps it takes 20 rounds of questioning what would happen then). Your answers do not have to be rational. Continue until something comes up where it really does not matter what might happen then and you start to find it somehow funny  or silly and feel that you have lost your fear.

The next time you come across your limiting belief, think about this exercise. So you can let go of the stress that is connected to it and it becomes more easy to perceive possibilities to go to your yoga class after all.

Enjoy your Habits^© today with love and light!

Aimée Kuntz

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