02/10/2022
This passage was originally written by Lisette Cheresson:
"We talk a lot about learning to love ourselves in our yoga practice: Your breath, your movement. Listen to your body. Enjoy the stillness of your mind. Be compassionate. Practice loving-kindness. With regular practice, we find these moments on the mat. Applying these lessons in everyday life is more of a challenge.
For yogis, love is compassion, empathy, and truth. To love oneself is not self-absorption. When we are good to ourselves—when we turn away from the darkness—we are, as consequence, able to be compassionate. When we throw ourselves our own lifesaver, we learn how to rescue others. Like every other organism on Earth, we need to be cultivated to grow. Our bodies (and our minds) need to be watered, pruned, and live in the light. Only when our own inner garden has been tended to can we nurture the gardens of others.
Setting a regular routine for self-love doesn’t have to be manifested in detoxifying herbal baths, indulgent desserts, or taking a big trip (though we recommend all of the above). It’s much simpler than that. Changing the way we talk to ourselves is the single easiest way to practice self-love.
It’s much easier to be negative than to see the good. It’s much easier to be drowned in sadness than to recognize the impermanence—and the choice—to be regretful and bitter.
By practicing the loving-kindness that we learn on the mat in our own minds, we learn to be our own lifeboat. That’s what self-love is all about."
