Wellbeing Lifelong

This new post, part of the BeLikeYoga series, features Patience.

Patience is much needed in yoga in order to give our body time to develop and eventually achieve the different asanas. Strength, flexibility and balance are not qualities that come overnight, but after practice and persistence.

Wanting to move too fast and pushing our bodies too quickly can lead to injuries and traumas that can damage our relationship with yoga. Evolution needs time and, to handle this process with grace, we need patience.

Being patient is a big challenge for me personally. I have this inner (and sometimes detrimental) tendency to want to over-achieve, evolve fast and seek perfection. This motivation has led me to aim high and reach many of my dreams and goals in life; but the negative side involves being impatient when things are out of my control or don’t move forward as fast as I’d like.

“Trust the timing of your life” reads the picture featured on this post. This is something I try to remind myself when my inclination to speed things up kicks in.

Same as in yoga, to avoid injuring ourselves, someone else, or a relationship in our life, it is important to learn to respect the natural pacing of things. Easy to say, difficult to do.

“Trust that life is giving you exactly what you need practice in” – I read the other day, and it made me think that maybe patience is narrowly linked with trust. I realised I find it harder to be patient when I’m not 100% sure if the result I want will arrive. This normally involves leaving my hopes on someone else’s hands. Whereas I can give things more time when I know for sure that, with my calm and effort, I will  achieve what I want.

Focus on what you need to reach your (life/yoga) aims, do your homework and progress patiently until your goal arrives. Remember: Flowers blossom when they are ready, not when they are forced.

Trust. Release control and give life a chance to surprise you. To be what it is mean to be.

And most importantly, trust yourself enough to know that you will be fine, no matter what life brings.