10 Lessons I Learned From 10 Years of Yoga Practice

Pieces of wisdom you can benefit from without having to take up a yoga practice.

Yoga isn’t for everyone.

Even though I’ve been practicing yoga for more than a decade, I’m well aware that some people don’t like it.

They think it’s too slow, too boring, or too spiritual.

I get it.

That’s why I’m not going to bore you with details about my yoga practice (Unless you want me to, then drop me a message and we can have a nice long chat.)

However, I’ve picked up lessons and pieces of wisdom along the way that you can benefit from without having to take up a yoga practice.

Here are ten of them.

Learn to Control Your Attention or It’ll Get Hijacked

Attention is one of your most valuable resources. You can think of it like a muscle. Practice distraction and your ability to focus for long periods of time will atrophy.

However, when you train yourself to stay focused by resisting distractions and bringing your mind back when it starts to wander, your attention span increases over time.

Imagine what your life would be like if you trained yourself to stay focused for two hours at a time instead of 10 or 15 minutes. It can be truly life-changing.

There Will Always Be Someone Better and Worse Than You

There is always, always going to be someone who’s more flexible, more advanced, has better balance, or looks better in their yoga clothes. On the other hand, there’s also going to be someone looking at you and thinking the same thing.

Your practice isn’t about comparing yourself to others, it’s about comparing yourself to who you were last week or last year. Because if you use another person to gauge your progress, you’ll always end up disappointed.

Showing up Is Half The Battle

Some days you feel lazy. The last thing you want to do is practice yoga. But if you just show up on your mat, you’ll be surprised how after a little while your motivation shows up too.

So go for a 5-minute run, sit down to write for two minutes, read one page. Before you know it, you’ll get sucked in and it’ll feel great. Half the battle is just showing up.

Your Body Is More Intelligent Than You Realize

The human body has evolved over thousands of years. It knows how to heal itself, keep you breathing, regulate your heart rate and temperature (just to name a few things) without you even having to think about it.

There’s a vast source of wisdom stored inside your body that can guide you once you start to tune in. Many people ignore their bodies simply because no one ever teaches you how to interpret what you feel. But once you start to pay attention, you’ll be surprised how much you can learn about yourself.

Progress Happens One Millimeter at A Time

Many yogis like to quote the father of modern yoga, Pattabhi Jois as saying, “Little by little, all is coming.”

You can spend years practicing one yoga pose and only improve one millimeter at a time. But sooner or later, you’ll get there. It just takes time and practice. The same goes for just about anything else in life. No matter how slow your progress is, you’ll get there eventually if you keep going.

Your Breath Is a Window Into Your State Of Mind

“Without full awareness of breathing, there can be no development of meditative stability and understanding.” Thich Nhat Hanh

Many people don’t realize that you spend most of your day taking very shallow breaths, or barely breathing at all. However, your breath controls everything from your mood to your energy levels and cognitive performance.

Trying to breathe deeply and more slowly throughout the day is a good place to start. If I had to pick just one single lesson from this list that truly changed my life, it would be learning how to breathe properly.

When Your Mind Is Out of Balance So Is Your Body

Try to stand on one leg while dividing 1028 by 3. You’ll probably start to wobble. This is a literal example, but it’s also true when it comes to yoga and other areas of your life.

If you’re stressed, worried, anxious, or if your mind is going in twenty different directions, your body will feel the effects of that. Your mind and body are connected, and often what happens in the mind shows up in the body.

Energy Is Power

One of the reasons people dismiss yoga is because of all the pseudoscientific energy talk. I get it. But at the same time, I’ll be the first one to rave about how yoga can open up the energy stored in your body until you can actually feel it flowing through you.

You don’t have to do yoga to learn how to move and control your energy, but learning how to manage the energy inside your body literally makes you more powerful.

You Can’t Force Someone to Like Something

When you have a hobby you love, you want others to appreciate it as much as you do. I’ve tried to convince my husband to try yoga, but it’s just not his thing. I finally gave up when I realized that just because you like something, doesn’t mean other people have to like it too. If it’s not for them, you have to accept it and let them be.

Too many people try to force their opinions or lifestyles on others, and it only ends up pushing them away.

There’s More Than One Way To Meditate

Many people assume meditation means sitting in a cross-legged position with your eyes closed as you inhale and exhale. Sure, this is one form of meditation. But it’s not the only one. You can experience meditative states while doing yoga, running, diving, or even sewing.

The point is, just because you don’t have a traditional meditation practice, doesn’t mean you’re not getting the benefits of meditation in your own way.