Yoga: Revealing Our Weaknesses on a Daily Basis

I know it doesn't look like she has any weaknesses, but trust me, she does (image via koyoga.wordpress.com)...

Last night, as I was thumbing through Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer, I came across the following passage that I had highlighted during my first reading of the book. I think it perfectly captures what brings many people to yoga--and then what they find, once they're there: 

I did yoga because of an idea I had of who I wanted to be: serene, fit, spiritual. I bought a pair of yoga pants and grew my hair longer so it would stay in a ponytail. My ponytail never looked sleek, like those of the real yoga girls, but at least it kept my frizzy hair, with its impenetrable understory, out of my face. My idea of yoga was an idea that had to do with exterior perfection: Others would see me do yoga and would know my superiority. Here is what happened instead: I did yoga, and I was a mess. The yoga was supposed to reveal me as perfect, and instead it did nothing but reveal my deepest weakness. 

I know that to many,  this passage may sound negative ("What? Reveal my weaknesses? Never!"), but I think this aspect of yoga--this revealing, vulnerable side of yoga--is one of the most wonderful parts of the practice. It makes you face the things that you've been pushing aside, hiding from yourself (or from others), or running away from, and it brings them into the light. When your mind is still, or focused on only the body and the breath, these things will come up and you'll have to acknowledge them. Yoga makes you aware of your weaknesses in both body and mind, and allows you to learn to love yourself--the good, the bad, the ugly--weaknesses and all. 

This doesn't happen overnight, and may take many, many, years, (or even lifetimes!), but it's all part of the process. We do yoga, and we're a mess. But that's okay. 

So here's to embracing our weaknesses today...and being okay with the messiness in our lives :)

Namaste,
Mary Catherine