Acceptance, Patience and Surrender

Today’s post completes my discussion of the Ten Principles of Yoga. The final principle is Acceptance, Patience, and Surrender.

Acceptance: Accept where you are in the moment, even if you’d prefer it to be different. Let’s say you want to be able to do a full squat pose, but whenever you try, it hurts your knees. Accept that your body is not ready for a full squat yet, and instead choose a modified version of the posture that causes no pain.

Patience: Be patient with yourself, with your body. If you keep attempting that modified squat, you will find that over time you are able to go farther and farther into it. You will make progress . . . incremental progress most of the time, but you may also experience the occasional giant leap forward.

Surrender: Just let it be. Let go of trying and breathe into “where you are” in the moment . . . and relish it.

These principles can be such a challenge! We always want to be doing “better,” and often as we age, we find that instead we are doing “less.” But less isn’t worse. As long as you’re doing what feels right in your body, you are doing your best. Take a deep breath and enjoy the satisfaction of doing your yogic best!