SELF-ESTEEM PART 1

 I saw God in my yoga practice today as He has helped me increase my self-esteem through my yoga practice. Yoga has helped me to truly love myself, which has led me to love God more and my fellow man (& woman). I have since learned 11 ways to increase self-esteem. Many of these are taught in yoga. See why I adore yoga? These ideas come from the book What Husbands Expect of Wives by Brent A. Barlow. Benefits to increasing self-esteem include: our work gets better, self confidence, our personal relationships improve, we feel more cheerful, healthier and everything takes on a new and friendlier face. 

1. Handle Your Competition Creatively: Focus on yourself, not on others, what they may have that you don’t. Compete against yourself. I learned this in my personal yoga practice. I felt more safe practicing at home rather than in a class because I compared myself to others in the class, thinking: “oh, she can do full hanumanasana and I can’t.” But I learned from Yoga Teacher Training and further study and reading of books about Yoga that Yoga is not a competitive sport. It is about you. As if you are the only person in the class. It is about your journey, how you feel in your body, mind and soul. Your progress towards goals you have set for yourself.

2. Be Your Own Booster: listen seriously to your own bright and big ideas. Give your dreams a boost and you will be surprised as you make wonderful, impossible ideas become a possibility.

3. Develop a Plan for Dealing with Your Own Imperfections: No one is without imperfections, recognizing them is the first step. Accepting them and working through them will guide you to cultivating mature self-esteem.

4. Forgive Yourself: We all make mistakes. It’s how we recognize and move after those mistakes that makes all the difference. Rather than dwelling on regrets and thinking “I should have done this, I should have done that…” we can should all over ourselves. Rather think “next time I will.” Each day is a new day, a fresh start. God will give you as many do overs as you need.