Everyone is talking about self-love these days, amirite?! We're told to practice self-love to help feel better. It fixes everything, at least that's what we're told. But, what exactly is self-love?
Compassion is one of our core values here at Vikara Village. This means we respond to ourselves and others with conscious understanding and concern. We are mindful of how we show up and treat ourselves and others with kindness. We are all about that #selflovelife
What exactly is Self-Love?
According to Dr. Kristin Neff, the Co-Founder of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, self-love and self-compassion are all about being kind to ourselves, even when life goes a bit unplanned. It's also about being mindful, offering non-judgmental acceptance of the present moment.
People feel self-compassion because they are human beings, not because they are special and above average. It emphasizes interconnection rather than separateness. This means that with self-compassion, you don't have to feel better than others to feel good about yourself. - Dr. Kristin Neff
How amazing is it to hear that we don't have to tear others down to love ourselves? We can love ourselves and root for our bestie at the same time - YES!!
How does yoga help us practice self-love?
Yoga teaches us so many things! It gives us some really awesome physical benefits, like being more flexible, getting stronger, and the ability to balance on one leg! There's also some great mental and emotional benefits we don't see, but definitely can feel! We call this doing yoga ON and OFF the mat.
Yoga is a WHOLE philosophy, or study of knowledge around theories, ideas, and experience, that help us learn and grow as human beings. Yoga is more than just the physical asana, or movement. There are 8 limbs to the yoga path! Which means, there are 8 different ways for us to interact, practice and learn from yoga!
The yamas and niyamas, two of the limbs of yoga, help us learn to interact in the world. You can think of them as a set of ethics or principles that help us be the best we can be!
The yamas are external and help us take care of others, while the niyamas are internal and can help us take care of ourselves. The yamas and the niyamas have so much to teach us about practicing self-love and compassion for ourselves and others.
Join us to learn how to incorporate self-love and yoga!
We're so excited about our Self-Love Series: Integrating Self-Love through Yoga! We've created a video series, just for you! Through these short videos, you'll learn about the yamas and niyamas and how you can use them to care for yourself and others. The video series is self-paced and there where you need it - the journey is up to you!
Get the first video delivered right to your inbox! Get the Self-Love Series to your inbox!