Your Own Worst Enemy ~ Bikram Yoga

Picture the scene: You’re not even in Locust but knowing it’s the next posture in the series has you feeling exhausted. Your mind is suddenly churning the familiar self-talk, “This posture is so tough. I don’t want to do it. I can’t do it.” You set up the  physical form; you lift your right leg up to 30 degrees… it feels like lead… 45 degrees? No way! You’ve tuned out the dialogue; you just want this pose to be over.

If I am not alone, you too have been caught in this situation – be it Locust or other challenging posture. In my case, this has happened way too many times. Anticipating a posture before it’s even attempted is my downfall in the hot room. Preempting actions with negative mind-talk is enough to turn a positive and uplifting practice onto its back.

I’m diligent about setting up the physical posture with precision. So, what about setting up the mental form?

I firmly believe – correction: I know – that the power of my mind is directly correlated to the success of my yoga practice. So, over the past few classes, I have been diving head-first into oncoming waves of anticipation. Before Locust, for example, I’ve been consciously replacing “But, I can’t…” with “I can do this. Within 10 seconds, it’ll be over.” This way I have no time to worry and I ditch the exhaustion that accompanies such a anguished lead up.

It’s hard breaking these mind-habits in the hot room, but I’m committed to pivoting the dial closer to kindness and compassion. It takes 21 days to make and break, right?

“Practice with a beginner’s mind” – truer words have not been spoken.

WAVE: Image via thenark.com