How Yoga Helps You to Know Yourself

Yoga is renowned for healing the body and mind. However, the holistic therapy has other benefits, too. When used regularly, yoga can help you get to know yourself on a deeper level through a series of simple steps. In this article, we explore how yoga helps you to know yourself in more detail. Before you begin, we recommend picking up some comfortable yoga clothes to practice in. Until the weather gets warmer, it’s best to wrap up in a thick yoga hoodie to prevent your muscles from getting too cold.

Pay Attention

As you practice, pay attention to your body. What makes you feel good, bad or in-between? What makes you feel calm, anxious or physically unwell? To get to know yourself, it’s important to not ignore these things or pass them off as unimportant. Instead, these reactions should be taken into account and remembered for next time. While they may seem like a normal side-effect, they are the clues to your mind, body and soul. Paying close attention to these will help you to know yourself on a deeper level.

Discover Your Dosha

Many yogis believe that everything we do is in accordance with our true nature. Our physical and emotional characteristics are simply the result of three energetic forces: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Vata is the energy of movement, Pitta is the energy of transformation, and Kapha is the energy of cohesion. According to yogic texts, these three forces are the natural intelligence that defines you as a person. Everything from your appearance to personality is a result of these, making each of us a unique combination of the three. Your personal combination is known as your Dosha. Understanding and embracing this gives you the opportunity to know yourself on a deeper level. To discover your Dosha, seek the help of your yoga instructor or an Ayurvedic practitioner.

Don’t Hold Back

Throughout our lives, we are encouraged in one way or another to reign ourselves in. Whether that’s to hold our tongue in a discussion or to dress appropriately for a social gathering, we’ve been taught to hold back. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that we struggle to know ourselves. With yoga, you are encouraged to trust your instincts and express yourself. After a while, you’ll notice your emotional and physical health improve as you start to unlock the real you.

Let Go

If you feel the need to be perfect, you’ll never get to know the real you. Thankfully, yoga can help you to realise that you’re perfect just the way you are! Nobody is truly perfect; everybody has parts of them that could be improved. However, that isn’t a negative thing – it’s what makes us beautiful as an individual. In life, we are all on the same journey. Our goal is to learn, grow, and love ourselves and the world around us. Yoga can make this possible by calming and rationalising the mind. When we learn to accept our imperfections, we can let go of the expectations and false images. Instead of trying to meet societies impossible standards, we can start to live life in a way that makes us happy. From here, we can start to unwrap our true self.

Prove You Can

It’s no secret that yoga is physically and mentally challenging. While it may look easy from the outside, successfully practising a crazy posture can take time and dedication. For many of us, yoga helps us realise that we not only enjoy being challenged, but we need it. Challenging yourself on a regular basis will help you see that you’re capable of more than you thought. This awareness will not only improve your yoga game, but it will help you off the mat, too. When life presents a challenge outside of the studio, you’ll have the confidence to prove you can achieve anything.

Relieve Stress

When it builds up, stress can have a negative impact on our body. When we’re stressed, our inner voice becomes more negative, loud, and persistent than usual. Once you get into the cycle of negative thinking, it can be difficult to get yourself out of it, particularly if you don’t take time to rest and rejuvenate. To function at our best, we need time away from the stresses of modern life. Yoga allows us to step away from everyday life and gives us the opportunity to focus on ourselves. When you let go of build-up stress, your inner voice will become clear and rationalised. From here, you can decide whether the stress you feel is real or a reaction to being overworked.

Take Time to Reflect

At the end of a yoga class, you’ll be encouraged to relax and reflect. Typically, this is done in Corpse Pose. Simple to practice, all you need to do is lie flat on your back and relax your arms by your sides. From this position, take time to focus on your breathing and reflect on the session. In the busyness of modern life, there is little time to think about who we are. When we do have some free time, there are usually a million and one things waiting on the to-do list. During Corpse Pose, there is nothing to do but focus on yourself. With a dedicated slot of time, you can enjoy getting to know yourself a deeper level.

In Summary

When used regularly, there’s no question that yoga helps you to know yourself. If you don’t believe us, try it for yourself! All you need to get started is a comfortable yoga bra and a quiet space.