I’ve been thinking about self-love all day. It intrigues me for a reason I don’t really know.
I went to yoga class, huffing and puffing from my brief cardio workout, excited to get into my downward dogs and chatarangas, and get out all the angst left over from a vacation with my sister. But just as I was eager to begin, the teacher paused. We were in mountain pose (hands in prayer at your heart). The beautiful, lean yoga teacher said to the class, choose something to dedicate your practice to. This was not an out of the ordinary request from a yoga teacher, and my usual dedications popped up: my sisters, stopping genocide, ending poverty, etc., etc.,but this time I stopped instead of picking one of the myriad usuals.
I dedicated my practice to self-love, in all its generality.
And in my practice, I found myself trusting my body more than i ever have before (and I have been doing yoga since my friend lent me her Denise Austin yogalates video in high school). For the first time, I gave my worries, my fears and my frustrations completely over to my body, and let my body express those. And it was an entirely new experience.
So back from yoga, munching on crunchy baked green beans (if you haven’t had these, I suggest you try some- they are delicious), I have decided that a big chunk of self-love comes from trust. Trusting your body, your mind, your decisions, and your capabilities as an independent human being, to lead you down whatever path in life they create. It’s like doing a trust fall, but instead of depending on others to catch you, you have to depend on yourself. Can you catch yourself?
