1. No Comparison with others  

We all know this from the very beginning, still, we look at the yogi next to us wishing we could do that crazy posture as well. It was intimidating that they can stay for several minutes in the headstand.

However, I learned that Yoga is not about perfecting the toughest asanas. Yoga is only about one self. The time on the mat is time for ourselves. I have stopped comparing myself to others and remained completely with myself and my own practice.

Every body is different and a regular practice makes everything possible, also to accept what our body cannot achieve. However, we all know the asana practice is just the tip of the iceberg of what yoga bring us.

2. How we treat ourselves, when our body shows us its limits

I have never really notice this in  the yoga trainings I have done in Vancouver, Hamilton, Toronto, but I noticed this especially during my yoga teacher training in India. We had two hours vinyasa practice every morning in our ytt and after three weeks I got sick. I was dizzy and I had fever. I still went to practice but I could only participate for a short time.

At the second downward facing dog I immediately felt more and more dizzy and I went into the childspose. As I tried to start again, my yoga teacher came to me and told me to lay down in savasana.

Alright, I did that. I was lying there for almost two hours and everyone else around me practiced yoga. I felt devastated. At some point I realized only my ego wanted to join. It was not good for my body.

Relaxation would have been better. This did not make me a worse yogi, but rather a better one, because it is an act of self-love to allow our body the rest when it is needed.

3. To calm my monkey mind I‘ve always been a person who thinks a lot.

Overthinking about every little thing. That often kept me from sleeping and I would lay awake all night. When I started to connect my movements with my breath during yoga, I was able to let go. Being in the here and now.

Feel the movements of my body and enjoy the dance of movement and breath. In everyday life, when I notice that I start to get lost in my monkey mind ruminating about past or worrying about the future, I concentrate on my breath. Inhale 4 breaths, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds. I‘m back in the here and now, the only place where we have influence on our lives.