Today, I want to share with you one of the most important lessons I have learned so far.

“Attitude is everything,” is one of those overused sayings that we’ve all heard a million times in our lives, right? But, how does it become ‘everything’?

 

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How Yoga helped me

 

For me, the real realization came when I started practicing Yoga on a regular basis. I think that our attitude is pretty much like the experience of Yoga. The true experience of yoga cannot be seen from the outside. It is an inner feeling of self compassion, self-care and self-love. It is an expression from the inside out that people will notice once you experience it.

The external expressions of the asanas during our yoga practice are merely a reflection of that which we cannot see: our creativity, our awareness, our intention, and our attitude.

One of my teachers once said in a class, „we are our greatest enemy“ and I now know that this is true.

 

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Whether we think, “we can” or “we can’t” either way we are usually right

 

This is why attitude, for me, is the single most important aspect of my yoga practice- even more than the asana itself. It is our attitude we inhibit that creates the foundation for our practice. It is the foundation for everything we do on the mat and beyond it. The best thing about attitude is that it is our conscious choice. One of the most important steps you can take toward achieving your greatest potential in life is to learn to monitor your attitude and its impact on your work performance, relationships and everyone around you. It governs the way you perceive the world and the way the world perceives you.The key is to realize it’s not what happens to you that matters; it’s how you choose to respond.

The loudest and most influential voice you hear is your own inner voice, your self critic. This voice can work for or against you, depending on the messages you allow. It can be optimistic or pessimistic. It can wear you down or cheer you up. You control the sender and the receiver, but only if you consciously take responsibility for and control over your inner conversation.

 

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You are in control of your attitude

 

Through Yoga I learned that, our minds give up long before our bodies need to and that we usually don’t get to choose the sequence or duration of asanas in a yoga class we take part in. We don’t get to choose how tight our hamstrings, hips or shoulders are and we certainly don’t get to choose what feelings and emotions the practice might bring up for us. What we are essentially in control of is our attitude. Patanjali states in the Yoga Sutras that our reality is shaped by our perception of the circumstances in life and with our perception we do have a conscious choice. ‘Yogas chitta vritti nirodah’, for me, is all about attitude. Yoga, as defined by Patanjali, is the mastery and control of our mental modifications. My teacher was right when she said, “The thing is the thing. It will not change. How you react to it makes the difference.”

In the end, all we are really doing on the mat is practicing for life. We work on being who we want to be on the mat (in a safe environment) in order to have the strength and courage to be who we truly are in the outside world. Yoga begins with the wonder of your own life and ends with the wonder of your own life. But first we need to begin and acknowledge where we are and who we are, and let whatever happens, happens.

Thank you for reading Xx

Love & Namasté

Nila