There is a fine line between strictly abiding by the “mind over matter” maxim and pushing harder, and truly listening to your body and resting when needed.
I am someone who went from doing a terrible downward dog to being able to do a headstand in 1-2 weeks. My body felt like it “broke” sometime between weeks 1 and 2 of YTT but I kept showing up to the mat and emerged stronger. What did I do though on the mat? Nothing – I just watched and rested.
Sometimes even though the body can’t do anymore the mind still can. And I truly believe that the mind is any day more powerful than the body – by simply listening and vicariously learning through my friends around me, I still learned and progressed, albeit in a smaller way. My goal was to progress overall, not to bend my body and contort it into various asana “shapes”. The only way to progress towards this goal was to rest, but mindfully.
This is not a story to boast of any of my achievements – it’s just a reminder to myself that when the going gets tough, it is important to commit to your progress, and one part of that commitment is allowing periods of rest every now and then.
Love
Krithika
