The mantra for 3 and 4 was I embrace and I awaken.
As for day 3, I didn’t find much that connected with me, so that’s why this post is combined with day 4. I still really enjoyed day 3 because it was a satisfying yoga practice (much shorter than day 2), but the mantra didn’t necessarily impact me so much as day 4.
In a whole day 3’s mantra was meant to prioritize embracing oneself and where they are in the yoga practice. I thought this was a fantastic idea. It is difficult to relish the now instead of focusing on the future, but it didn’t connect with me as much as it did on day 4.
For day 4 I got a couple things out of it. There was an extension of the ideas in day 3 and a deeper awareness of my breath. One of the things she said today was to shift our mindset. What that related to was when we’re in a pose that doesn’t feel right, to listen to our body, and shift a little. Toxic thoughts of ‘I should be more flexible’ etc. are distracting and damaging. It is important to embrace where we are today, to not push further than we can, but to shift our mindset. Instead of saying, “I should be further today” to “Look how far I have come”. This is a small chunk of a larger shift of mindset that I want to realize. I want to look to different angles as far as my perspective on life. So not “I should have a job by now” but “Look at how many things I have accomplished I never thought I would and how much more I can do”.
It’s so simple to write it out, but it involves a choice every day to be more mindful, more kind, and more gentle to yourself.
The second thing in day 4 was the mantra: I awaken. She asked us what are we trying to awaken. At first my goal was to awaken my body, this was morning yoga and I had just woken up (one of my favorite times to do yoga is in the morning, although night yoga is so relaxing). But as the practice went forward, I realized I need to awaken my breath. I don’t breathe deeply. Not really. She has to remind me to breathe deeply, to inhale and exhale. I just normally hold my breath, so deep in concentration or focus. So my main goal was to awaken my breath.
But it’s something I want to bring into my daily life, to awaken my breath. To breathe deeply, slow down, relax, and breathe truly. To walk around and breathe in the air around me.