Yoga is an inner journey that goes beyond just building a flexible and strong body. Here are a few means, aside from checking asanas off of your list, which measure the effect your yoga practice is having on your life:
- A natural desire to make healthy lifestyle changes- ridding yourself of habits that are unhealthy.
- A shift in the way you relate to others- more patience and forgiveness; increased honesty and authenticity; more collaboration and less competition; meaningful conversations and less gossip; being present with others.
- Taking responsibility for your own life and happiness- no longer blaming others and outer circumstances for the way your life unfolds; looking inside yourself instead.
- An increased appreciation and ability to see beauty, even in the smallest things that you may have taken for granted in the past. Everything becomes a miracle.
- More sensitivity and compassion to nature and all living things. Making more conscious decisions so not to cause additional harm and suffering.
- A growing sense of purpose and knowing that you can make a difference; even if it’s in the way you cook dinner and fold laundry. Instead of looking to gain meaning from outside of yourself, you are able to infuse meaning and care into all that you do.
- More power in your words. When you speak, your words are more potent and people want to listen. Your words become truthful, authentic, uplifting and trusting.
- Having frequent moments of feeling peace and fulfillment RIGHT NOW instead of waiting for something to happen or change to bring you contentment.
- Increased enthusiasm about waking up in the morning because life seems less burdensome and heavy. You have acquired a discipline to be more present and to not let your thoughts go unexamined because you know that an undisciplined and unexamined mind is hell’s playground. This discipline keeps you from falling for the same mind tricks that have weighed you down.
- Feeling more integrated and accepting of yourself and all of your shadows. Being comfortable in your own skin therefore more accepting of others and their own unique qualities.
- Increased synchronicities. It just happens and it is the coolest thing.
- Becoming less self-centered and more thoughtful without taking things so personally. Instead of impulsively reacting, you are able to “see” without looking through the lens of your own unexamined and therefore uncontrolled emotions. So instead of always making it about you, you can see that perhaps the other person is hurting and then are able to interact in a more meaningful way.
- Increased steadiness and centeredness- Life is designed to be messy and will always have challenging moments, so it’s not that these challenges go away, but your response to the challenges begin to shift since most likely, you have cultivated strategies to help you through. You begin to see that obstacles are often growth and learning experiences. Even though you feel pain and discomfort, you learn that if you lean in and hold steady in your truth, your perseverance will refine and soften all of those hard edges, making you all the more wiser.
- Having the most profound and mind blowing experiences of the Witness and “I Am” presence that is inside and all around. These moments of grace are the sweetest moments of all.