If Yoga is so Good, why is it so Hard?
If you have been doing yoga for a while, you already know the many benefits it brings you: more energy, better rest, freedom from aches and pains, and a greater sense of peace and calmness.
You would think that once someone starts a yoga practice, they would never stop.
But you would be wrong.
After being involved with yoga centers and yoga teacher training for over 25 years, I have seen thousands of people begin a yoga practice. Sometimes they practice for 6 weeks, 6 months, or 6 years – and sometimes for the rest of their lives.
But the reality is, most people will start and stop a yoga practice or abandon it over the years.
Why is that?
The answer is simple: Yoga changes you from the inside out in ways you could never imagine.
And change, even positive change, is hard to accept because you stop being the person you were but have not yet become the person you desire.
In that in-between period, the time of not being the “old” you but not yet the “new” you, you will meet resistance.
Sometimes the resistance comes in the form of friends and family who know the old you and are not yet comfortable with the new you.
But mostly it comes from within yourself as you realize you can no longer live a life of excuses and self-abuses. You cannot hold onto your old limiting and self-diminishing habits.
So you definitely need new habits, self-promoting habits, to keep you on track. And you may need new friends and new ways to work and be in the world as well.
For many of us, that is hard because change, no matter how much we desire it, is very hard.
The reality is most people want to change only enough so they can be more comfortable staying who they are.
But Yoga does not work that way. Yoga has always been practiced to create deep self-transformation, and to move you beyond from your limited sense of self.
So be kind to yourself. When you do yoga, you are doing something good but ultimately the most difficult thing you can do.
Release judgement and fear. Believe in the Self that is leading you to yourself.
Does it ever get easier? No, but it gets better.
Try this meditation that we teach in our Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training programs (our next one begins January 2022 in person in Austin, Texas).
MEDITATION FOR CHANGE
Sit in a comfortable meditative posture.
Curl the fingers in as if making a fist. Place the fingertips on the pads of the hands, just below the fingers. Then bring the two hands together at the center of the chest.
The hands touch lightly in two places only: the knuckles of the middle fingers and the pads of the thumbs. The thumbs are extended toward the heart center and are pressed together.
Hold this position and feel the energy across the thumbs and knuckles.
Close the eyes (no gaze specified) and begin long deep breathing, concentrating on the flow of your breath. Continue for 11 to 31 minutes.
Inhale deeply and relax for 5 minutes.
