Yoga’licious: “A Mantra to Munch on when your Perfectionist wants to run the show…”

Happy Tuesday!

I have a question for you?

Have you ever taken yourself out from going to a yoga class, exploring a new pose on your mat, or even stepping into exciting new opportunities in your life off the mat because you were afraid you would ‘fail’, you would get it ‘wrong’, or you might look silly and people would judge you so why even bother?!?!

If any of this is resonating for you I totally get it, and today I have a little story to share with y’all…

3 years ago I remember being at my very first yoga teacher training with Baron Baptiste. I had already been teaching fitness and aerobics for 8 years so I thought, “teach yoga… piece of cake!”

During the teacher training when it was my turn to teach a sequence of poses to my small group I got up feeling super confident and very sure of myself; like I said before in my mind yoga was a piece of cake to teach.

What I soon learned was that teaching yoga was completely different than teaching fitness. I stumbled over my words, got the timing all wrong on the flow, and ended up bursting into tears from the pressure I was putting on myself to “perform” and get it right.

After taking a few moments to calm down and pause from this experience I realized that although teaching yoga was similar to fitness, I was in a whole new arena. Being a beginner again was a scary and vulnerable place to be in, and the little kid in me wanted to run away and hide until I was ‘good enough.’

When I came home from the training and started to teach public yoga classes there were still SO many times that I continued to feel awkward, unsure of myself, uncomfortable, and left questioning whether or not teaching yoga was the “right” path for me (and this still happens from time to time :)).

The recovering perfectionist in me DID NOT like feeling uncomfortable but I knew in my heart that even though it felt chaotic sometimes, I am meant to teach and share my love of yoga.

I took so much away from my teacher training but there was one little mantra that Baron shared with us that has been an anchor for me, especially in the times that I want to run away and give up…

“You got to show up and suck so you can show up and shine.”

I know the word “suck” can be a little harsh so let me define it. By suck I mean letting yourself be messy, imperfect, not put together, a beginner, etc. :).

If I had thrown in the towel after teaching my first ‘sucky’ yoga class, Yoga’licious would not have been born and you and I would not be having this conversation.

I share this with you today because what I have learned from this one little mantra is that there is no such thing as “perfect” and that the myth of perfection is just that… a myth.

In my opinion it is healthy and a part of life to ‘suck’, fall down, and make mis-takes when you are trying new things and exploring uncomfortable new territory on and off your mat.

So this week my savory and juicy challenge for you on your mat and off your mat is to get messy, fall, and just explore being you and being in your body.

Throw all the “rules” and “I need to get it rights” out and just roll out your mat, play, explore new foods, take a different route to work, or even take the first steps into doing something you have been holding off on for fear of not knowing enough.

You will learn along the way and that is the best part.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Getting messy with you,