Be honest to yourself and to others. I believe strongly in this, because then you’ll be a better person, including treating yourself better and also attracting the right people into your inner circle.
Whenever we are in an asana, we experience difficulty to different extents when trying to nail the alignment of it. At least I can say that for myself. The first question I’d ask myself is, am I trying my best? And then the second one after that is, am I pushing myself too hard? So yeah, basically we shouldn’t be asking ourselves these two questions at the same time because they could mess up our heads. But after learning the definition of asana, I’ve come to realise that asking myself those questions is not confusing myself but necessary, because the first question pushes myself to my limit and then the second one eases me into a easy and comfortable pose.
This honesty to myself is important because it prevents myself from getting hurt. This constant reminder to myself that I have nobody to impress is important because I need to love myself first. People who are more concerned about loving themselves and less about impressing others (and possibly hurting themselves in the process) would then become my future students.
We cannot please everyone. But we can try to bring joy to more people on another day. So, if you cannot do something today, try it next time. Seek improvement, but don’t force it.
Namaste,
Han Xiang 🙂
