Enough

In yoga philosophy we are presented with the 'Eight Limbs', eight steps that if followed are said to help live a meaningful and purposeful life. The first of these limbs is 'Yama' meaning moral restraints.  This relates to our behaviour and how we conduct ourselves through life. Under this heading falls the idea of 'Asteya' or non-stealing. You don't need to be a genius to work out what 'non-stealing' means, but most of us aren't thieves, and so we have to look deeper.

For me Asteya is about gratitude. It is about realising both on and off the yoga mat that you are enough. Non-stealing means that you don't covet what others have. In a world where social media is king it is so easy to feel deflated; to wish that you were different; more muscly, skinny, flexible... but in feeling this way you are only stealing from yourself. You are robbing yourself of happiness and robbing others of the amazingness (totally not a word but just trying to be clear here) that is you. Have you ever stopped to think about how incredible your body is? Every second it works for you; breathing, moving... Without you even telling it to. So appreciate every cell; your own unique humanness, and be the best YOU.

We are all perfect and imperfect at the same time. Every. Single. Body. Is. Different. In our yoga practice my teacher reminded us that we have to 'make the pose fit the body, not the body fit the pose'. Achieving a certain shape means nothing; there is no reward for being able to get your legs behind your head (only a potentially pulled hamstring). Instead we should use the poses to carefully strengthen our bodies. Using yoga to be thankful for all our bodies can do, not what they cannot.

Today at the start of class my teacher told us to write a few words on our hearts relating to something we felt strongly about (admittedly slightly cheesy but just go with me here). This morning I panicked and didn't know what to put, but tomorrow I know what I want to write: ' I am enough'.