The Value of Self-Patience

Something I’ve see a lot with some yoga students is a deep lack of patience with themselves. After one or two classes, there’s an expectation that flexibility and fitness levels will improve dramatically. Or I see them ignoring their body’s pain signals to be patient and pushing through a posture instead of being patient and gentle.

One of the valuable lessons of yoga is patience. It’s learning to be as patient with yourself as you are with other people. Patience is an incredibly important gift to give ourselves as well as others as we roll through life. Some of the benefits of practicing self-patience are:

1. Enjoy better physical health by patiently listening to messages from the body.
2. Enjoy better mental health by being as patient with ourselves as we would be with someone else.
3. Being patient with ourselves helps us achieve our goals.

We didn’t learn to walk in a day and we didn’t learn to read, write or any skill in a day. So to go from inflexible to flexible, from pain to pain-free, from poor health to good health, we need to be patient and keep going. As we learn to work with our body and mind where it is, with patience and time we can lead our body and mind to where we want to go.

To find out more about how to mind your mind at Relax From Stress Holistic Centre, visit www.relaxfromstress.ie, contact Tracy on 086-2202734 or email tracy@relaxfromstress.ie.

Published in the Connaught Telegraph newspaper on 7 March 2017