Around about some 4 months ago now, I made a promise to myself.
I’ve achieved so much with my health these past 6+ years. However, with declining energy levels and increasing weight challenging me, we had explored so many aspects of health in an effort to uncover the ‘why’…
- Thyroid
- Stress
- Emotional Baggage
- No sugar
- Low Carb
- Counting Calories
None of this worked…not even drinking rosemary and licorice tonic!!!
So, I cancelled the gym membership, weight sessions, personal training, running etc which I’ve enjoyed so much since about 2011 and made a commitment that I would consistently attend yoga classes. In an effort to use yoga to help me connect to myself at a deeper level.
Whilst it has been challenging and sure there have been moments when giving up would have been easy. Honestly, negative thoughts like pulling into the McDonald’s drive thru have entered my mind…Thank goodness I never did!! I knew it would bring me pain. I kept going back to ‘there must be an answer, you’ve come so far, just keep going’.
It’s that little inner voice that lives within me…Kylies Courage.
So, what’s happened since I made that promise? Well, as it turns out yoga, at that time, was one of the best decisions I made. I stopped counting calories, spending my every waking moment thinking about food, less sugar, low carbs and went back to listening into my body, deeper and deeper. I guess you could say I stopped obsessing!
If anyone ever tries to tell you that yoga isn’t real exercise, don’t believe them. I’m telling you it really is! It has helped me immensely. I have attended a number of different styles of class…from yin to flow to long slow deep. With some great yoga teachers and ultimately the different styles have helped me connect in with my spiritual and emotional journey.
Ok, so I am a bit competitive right. So, as with anything I do I like to feel/see progress. Otherwise, I start to question my ‘why’. Well, without a doubt I have experienced progress. When I first began, at the suggestion of the yoga teacher, even mentioning the words ‘pigeon pose’…I know I would screw up my face, roll my eyes and think ‘oh no’.
However, I persisted! It was about 8 weeks after I first started and doing yoga class about 2-3 times per week, when I realised that we did pigeon pose. I didn’t make all the facial expressions and I didn’t feel negative towards it. Now, by no means am I saying it’s my fav pose…but importantly I could feel progress and actually breathe into pigeon pose. Listen to my body and learn from those messages. In between actual yoga class I would also roll my mat out at home and just breathe into some different stretches, whatever I connected with on that given day.
Some of my greatest and deepest learnings these past few months have included…
- Increased flexibility
- More positive thoughts, a greater clarity of mind
- A greater appreciation for my body, ultimately learning self love…more
- A deeper connection with myself, on the inside, a depth of inner peace
I do hope that from my sharing and journey that at the very least this reminds us all to…
- Never, never, never give up
- Believe…always believe in you
- Self Love…I’m not talking green smoothies here, I’m talking about that inner practice of self-acceptance, for you, exactly as you are, with no judgement. For me, I found it easy to drink the green smoothie, but I realised I wasn’t doing the inner work.
I can assure you..
- From darkness comes light
- From the storm comes blue sky
- From rain comes sunshine and rainbows
- From every challenge comes growth
These words can be easy to say…And, not so easy to connect with and easily feel into.
I formed Kylies Courage as a result of my health journey which I consider to be ongoing, for life. And I guess these past months of challenge are all a part of that journey. Though I haven’t always seen it that way!! After all, we need to work through the storm and darkness to see the sunshine and rainbows.
Wishing you…
Continued health, deep self-love, greater inner peace and endless happiness xx
Kylies Courage 