How yoga clothes can help you heal – part 2

Welcome back!! This is the second of a three part series on the healing power of yoga titled “How yoga clothes can hep you heal.” which is an interview series with Jennifer Knight. Jennifer is a ERYT 500, RPYT  Yoga instructor, Creator and Owner of Yoga Tree of Boise and a dear friend.

Our conversation was so incredible it is divided into three parts:

Part 1 (October 17) – Turning judgment into discernment – Click here to see that post.

Part 2 (THIS POST) – How to cultivate self love – This post.

Part 3 (October 31) – Meditation as a way to put it all together – Click here to see that post.

If you missed the first post you may be wondering if you missed how yoga clothes can help you heal. The answer is, yoga clothes help you heal when you wear them to practice yoga.

We left off last time talking about how our internal language is an integral part of cultivating self love. If we are saying unkind things to ourselves, it will be difficult to feel that sense of love. Sometimes we have to really work at self-love. The topic of self-love because that is where so much starts for us in our lives.

If you are looking for a self-love meditation, there is one you can access here. I’ll put the link at the bottom of the page so you can keep reading now.

Cultivating Self Love

Jennifer talked about making self-love simple. Here is an idea. When you brush your teeth, look into your own eyes and hold your own gaze the whole time you are brushing. This is a simple but powerful gesture that might conjure some emotions if you aren’t accustomed to looking into your own eyes. You will probably begin to feel some powerful feelings.

Jennifer advises that we learn to sit with those feelings, whatever they are, without judgement or attaching value. In fact, while you are looking into your own eyes, do so without judgement or attaching value to what you see.

You can even take it one step further if you are up for it! Louis Hay, founder of Hay House, Inc, has done a lot with mirror work. This is where you look into a mirror and say loving things to yourself. For example, “I love you”, “you are beautiful”,
“you are important” may be phrases you really need to hear. You can say them to yourself without attaching judgement. Don’t be surprised if it conjures emotions for you. (I am not being compensated in any way for mentioning Hay House or Louis Hay. I value her work and recommend it for this reason only.)

We were born to love one another. We can only accept love from others to the capacity we love ourselves.  So what can help us cultivate self-love?

Self-love as a life long practice 

Last week we talked about using discernment rather than judgment. This is so important. Non-judgement is the acceptance of self, leading to self-love.The journey toward self-love is an inward journey. Jennifer says, “Self love is the foundation of all that is”. Everything around us changes at a rapid pace so we have to rediscover self-love with every breath in every moment. This is why self-love is a life long practice. It’s a lot like eating. We don’t eat once and for all. We won’t cultivate self-love once and for all either. We need continuous nourishment.

Jennifer shared that self-love hasn’t come from how strong she is, how well her children are doing in school, from being a successful professional or anything else external. Self love happened when she took the time to sit and recognize how she was feeling. In Jennifer’s words, she sat with the “feeling tones”.

A feeling tone is simply the awareness of what is happening right now within you. Ask questions. How does my body feel? What am I thinking about? What is this experience like for me emotionally?

That discernment helped Jennifer learn about herself and led to her natural and easy side. Jennifer began to ask herself, “what moves me to love?”. It turned out to be the little things she witnessed within herself.

Recognizing our own needs is part of self-love

Jennifer says, “When I took responsibility and could feel my own needs, I could communicate them with those around me.”. This caused a major shift and through this shift into self-love, Jennifer began to see her path unfold and gratefully accepted that she was following a path of Divine Will. This divine path leads to trust and a sense of self-worth and self-love to trust in whatever happens next.

Speaking of what happens next, we will wrap up this three part series next Monday with our final installment of the interview with Jennifer where we bring this all together with the role that meditation can play in our healing. Sign up for my newsletter to have this delivered right to your inbox so you’ll be sure to catch it.

If you liked this, please click “like”. If you loved it, please consider sharing! If you have comments, please feel free to comment below. Both Jennifer and I invite you to take part in our conversation.

If you feel compelled, you can share by selecting your favorite social media site on the left. My mission is to spread love and light far and wide. You can help me do that by sharing and liking. I’m so grateful you are on this journey with  us!

All my love,

Brenda