Living my truth: Satya

It has been always hard to be skinny as people treat me as if I am sick or not capable of doing things in terms of strength. At the first week of the course, I was a little anxious while doing the poses. That was my challenge to do the poses with my meniscus operated knee and weak body. That is something really interesting, how people affect your thoughts about yourself. You start to believe what they say. Fortunately, I have got yoga in my life. That makes me see how strong I am. I am able to do head stand now, which I couldn’t do until the last week of the course. This proves that with practice I can do any pose.
 
In 5 weeks I have seen how my body transformed into another form. But I must admit that first week was very though. As I didn’t know how to breathe in and out correctly while I was doing the asanas, I had many difficulties to get the correct alignment into the poses. I knew that the process would be slow, require lots of patience on the way. That is not something you can get easily. You really need to work on it hard, if you want to pass through the other side, effortless level side. Transition from effort to effortless is not something you will be given. You need to build up your building slowly and gracefully. It means working hard on the muscles to stretch and flex to build up my body.
 
For instance, while doing Adho Mukha Shvanasana my shoulders were suffering a lot from carrying my body’s weight. With everyday practice, my gluteal muscles, legs and hamstrings are more engaged and my spine is more elongated. In the pose, my shoulders are getting more relaxed. I had very hard times with Chaturanga as well. Practice, practice and practice. The result: So far I can hold the pose for 30 seconds. Wow, that means a lot to me. With practicing Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana, Utthita Trikonasana, Pravritta Trikonasana, Dhanurasana, Bhujangasana, Purvottanasana and with many other poses, my stiff and tight chest is opening up more, my arms and shoulders are getting stronger. I appreciate every practice we did in the class. That made me transformed.
 
On the other side, in order to get correct alignment I am getting familiar with the terminology that enlarges my awareness of the body. Tuck in the tailbone, square the hips, engage the gluteal muscles, open up the chest, twist the chest and trunk up towards the ceiling and bring the body upright position, etc.
 
Even though being a beginner is very tough most of the times, I enjoy my yoga journey and I am living my truth now: Satya! I am truthful to myself about yoga. I want to develop myself with studying yoga and learning more and more everyday. Living in this self-improvement process motivates me, inspires me a lot. I don’t want to loose myself away from my goal. However that requires a lot of inner strength on the way, I am decisive to stick to my goal (Asteya).
 
Namaste!
 
Elif