This philosophy is at odds with our overly fast and stimulating consumer-driven culture. As a society, we are forced to look outside of ourselves for answers, to seek external validation of our decisions, feelings, and emotions. We have been taught to go and move faster, to push harder, to buy more, to follow the advice of others, to keep up with trends, to pursue an ideal formed by someone.
We also look to others for the approval of our body. We do this directly with questions such as “How do I look?” and indirectly when we compare ourselves to others, including images on social media and magazines. Comparison is always a moment when we look outside ourselves in search of an answer, is everything okay with us. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” When we define ourselves by external standards rather than internal ones, we never increase our self-confidence.
The Importance of Positive Self Alignment
One of the surest ways to lose power over ourselves is with our language, especially when we deny rather than affirm, diminish instead of empower, or punish instead of testing ourselves. Our language is everything. It shapes our reality, enhances our body image, and reflects how we feel. How we absorb or interpret other people’s words and how we talk to ourselves directly affects our body image and self-esteem.
Our tongue is not separate from our body. In fact, they are closely related to each other. Our bodies translate mood, health, perception, and disposition through language. For example, when we tell ourselves that we don’t fit in with something, this attitude subtly affects our body. We could bow our shoulders or not make eye contact with others. This attitude is likely to affect the way we dress, and maybe even our relationship with food. On the contrary, when our words are full of self-confidence, we are likely to be worth a lot more, share our ideas with others, and be less distracted by what others are doing.
The good news is that we can regain our personal power by using language purposefully and carefully. This is a fundamental belief in our conscious philosophy of the body.
Begin to be aware of your body
What does “conscious body” mean? When you deliberately choose words that build your self-esteem and affirm your body in conversations and conversations with others. Being body aware means deliberately refraining from disparaging body talk and challenging guilt, shame, and comparison. When we believe in the body, we believe that we do not need to compare ourselves to others and change our bodies in the name of social ideals or beauty.
Ultimately, it is the path to the gifts and responses that exist within us, including the confidence, resilience, courage, hope, gratitude that empower us from within and allow us to accept ourselves. We may strive to change our appearance over and over again, but if our inner self does not match our higher self, we will never know how to be confident.
Just like any habit we want to get rid of, the habit of body awareness can be acquired. We can’t just wake up one day and love ourselves. Cultivating a new conscious body language is wonderful, but it will only matter if we practice it in our internal dialogue every day for the rest of our lives.
We must challenge, relearn, and rewrite ingrained habits and beliefs, and this is most fruitfully done through dedication and repetition. We must build our mental endurance for this kind of personal work, and the practice of yoga is an excellent starting point for focusing these efforts.
Try to test your body
The practice of yoga is any activity that promotes self-awareness. Organized yoga practice adds a dimension of purposeful attunement to self-talk and intentionally uses self-affirming language to change your brain, lift your spirits, and ultimately improve your well-being.
To start your mindful journey, try these things the next time you’re on the mat:
From time to time, stop in a pose and observe your internal dialogue. Look, is this a positive, negative or neutral dialogue? Also observe how you feel in your body. How do you hold your face, eyes, jaw and shoulders? Does your internal dialogue empower or deprive you of the physical and mental experience in the pose? Try keeping a self-observation diary to increase your body awareness and identify patterns that challenge your self-confidence in useless ways.
This mindful yoga practice is a great first step to cultivating a powerful awareness of how your inner language translates into your mood, posture, and overall well-being. This will give you focused opportunities to practice observing rather than judging yourself.