Taken from www.wellness-springs.com
Moksha is Sanskrit for liberation. It’s also the type of yoga that I practice. Done in a heated room with gentle teachers, it allows you the freedom to not only get deeply into poses, but also to take your cues from your body, leaving the external world behind.
When I’m pouring sweat, deep in my 10th downward dog of the day, nothing exists outside of my burning muscles and controlled breath.
I’m not questioning if my body is capable, I’m not questioning if my body fits some(one’s) definition of attractive, I’m not questioning if my worth is somehow tied up in my physical appearance (for the record, it’s not. I know we all know this intellectually, but it can be damn hard to truly accept and LIVE this fact). The only thing I’m questioning is when the damn pose will be over!
When I’m in the studio, I am completely in my body. There is no gap between self (mind) and body. I am embodied. I am not a mind apologizing for a body that doesn’t quite meet my (or anyone’s) expectations, I am not a mind shaming itself for its failure to look like the woman in front of me in the grocery line, the woman on the magazine cover, the ridiculous ideal woman that has nothing to do with my body, my life or my wishes. I am just me. Through and through.
I seriously doubt there’s a single woman out there (in the West, at least) who doesn’t have some hang-ups about her body. Who isn’t, though she may be trying mightily not to, trying–and failing–to meet society’s unattainable standards. I know I do, even though I am too smart, and too educated, and too much of a God-damned feminist to accept those standards as anything but patriarchal bullshit.
Movement–that is, hardcore, challenging, sweaty exercise–is the tool with which I strike back against these bullshit standards. My body, rather than being an enemy which always fails to perform, is my instrument. My body, rather than being the site of an internal war, is where I find peace. Where I find solace, where I find home.
So go out there and find your tool. Find that piece that lets you embody the strong, fierce warrior that you are. The piece that quiets the over-thinking mind and unites it with the underappreciated body. Maybe it’s running or dancing or painting or singing. Whatever it is that lets you find yourself at home in your body is what you should be doing.
Okay, I’m inspired. I will.