Yoga is a practice not a perfect

Published by Bhavana under on 11:46 PM
All my life I've struggled with not being perfect. If I look deep down that is my greatest desire: to be perfect. And my greatest fear is to not be perfect. So you can imagine the overactive guilt complex I've developed. While being a ballet dancer from the age of 4 has definitely given me unimaginable gifts it has also made me strive to be perfect in everything I do. Which is impossible and I would be one of the first people to tell you that. That's what I teach my students; to be compassionate and non-judgemental towards themselves and accept where they are each day. And yet I am completely unable to practice what I preach. Which adds yet another layer of guilt. This all leads me to wonder what makes so many of us be afraid to be 'perfect'? what is perfection for crying out loud? Everything is subjective so how can we possibly deam anything we do as imperfect? I'm still trying to make myself believe that I am perfect no matter what. And I believe it intellectually but emotionally? that's a whole other story.

2 comments:

Yoga Gal said... @ October 5, 2007 at 12:24 AM

We have a lot in common I was also a professional ballet dancer, I joined my first company at the tender age of 16! Due to an auto accident my career was over at 19.
Remmeber yoga is not about perfect we call the class a "practice" the word yoga means union to join us with our mind with our body movements and to still our internal dialogue to bring a union with our true self. Perfection is never yoga's goal! Bless you, namaste.

Jane said... @ October 5, 2007 at 9:54 AM

I find myself to be quite the opposite; all my life I struggled with some self-esteem issues which made it hard for me to complete anything I ever started. Over the years, I've gotten better but there are those days when I wish I could get it all together and do things better. Most days though, I tell myself that things are good enough and perfect for wherever I am that day.

I wish so badly that I could do yoga. I had a metal rod put in my back when I was 16 and I lost so much of that flexibility that I had as a ballet student when I was younger. I've tried yoga but end up getting frustrated because I can't do most of the poses. Yoga is such a beautiful art form.

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