By: Mary Kathryn Craft
Yoga can show us so many parts of ourself; parts we love and part we struggle to love. Yoga means 'union' of body and mind, the duality of movement and pranayama, good and bad, dark and light, feminine and masculine. Yoga is an amazing modality to learn about loving your body and mind. I choose to approach life through love; loving the body, the mind, the spirit and those energetics around me. Self love means regard for ones own well being and happiness. Self love can appear in different forms in life; setting difficult boundaries, ignoring your ego and taking time alone, choosing peace over your person instead of being righteous. Below are a few tips on how to teach yourself or others about self love through yoga practice.
1) Focus on the Heart Chakra: the heart space is the beating of our lives and the power center of the physical body. It's associated with the color green located in the height of the chest by the thymus gland.Exercising your heart chakra is a great way to show self love to your body. You can do this through asana (fish pose, camel, dancer, heroes pose), eating green foods ( broccoli, spinach, kale, celery), Bhastrika Pranayama or bellows breath is a great way to focus on your heart space.
2) Affirmations: Setting a morning mediation practice can start by providing yourself with affirmations for 1 minute then go from there. What do you need to hear from yourself? You are worthy, you are whole, you are loved!
3) Self Care: Care for your physical body by adapting a self care routine. Salt baths, body scan meditation and massaging your feet is a great way to show your body that you recognize all the work it does for you. Can you set aside time daily or weekly to ritualize care for your body?
4) Ahimsa: In yoga philosophy, the first limb of yoga contains the Universal Moral Guidelines (Yama's). Ahimsa is the first guideline meaning non-violence or non harming. To go through life with a lense of non harming can be so valuable in how you interact with others and yourself.
5) Spread Love to Children: Seeing a child for who they are and caring for them as they show up can provide a deep sense of understanding and emotional regulation. Children look to us for validation, acknowledgement and understanding of their self. Modeling self love to children in all forms can show them a secure way to create a relationship with their own self.