Show yourself kindness while you struggle

I recently attended yoga in the park. Before I go any further- let me tell you, I am not a yogi. In fact I've only done yoga a handful of times. 

Even-still, I really enjoy the relaxation and mediation portions of some yoga practices.  And after my experience this week, I'm sure it's my favorite part.

As with any other yoga classes there was an instructor that led the session. What I loved was her transparency about being authentic towards yourself. She constantly reminded us that only you know your limits and only you know when you're focused. (I'm sure it didn't help that she didn't want anyone to hurt themselves in the middle of this loosely structured class held in the corner of Old 4th Ward Skate Park).

As she guided the class she made bunches of reminders about being centered on yourself and mindful of your own limits.  She reminded us that balance can also be from within as opposed to having your left side stretch and right stretch being identical. 

Not only did she make these statements; she also provided more profound commentary- a couple of which statements lingered with me.

1. Show yourself kindness 

How often do you show yourself kindness? Not giving yourself a compliment or a positive affirmation about who you are, what you can accomplish, or what/who you can be; but truly being kind to yourself? Having self compassion.  This took me for a loop because it sounds so simple but I quickly found it takes great discipline to implement this this idea.

2. You cannot end at the beginning.

This lingered because it's the better packaging of one of my life lessons: you must go through the struggle to arrive at success.

These two statement go together. They are both so vital to life- learning to thrive instead of just survive. So I challenge you to show yourself kindness as you go through the struggle. Especially since  we all know: the struggle is real, but now we also know you can be kind to yourself while en route to successfully overcoming it.