How Yoga Helped ReBuild My Self-Confidence

Who was I before yoga? I was the girl who lacked self-confidence, was insecure, and didn’t believe in myself at all. I didn’t believe I deserved happiness and was constantly comparing myself to others. I was a different person. Beginning a yoga practice changed a lot of this negative behavior for me and transformed my mind, body, and soul. Here is how yoga helped me to rebuild my self-confidence.

Yoga is an individual journey not a competition. When I accepted and learned that yoga isn’t a competitive sport – it took so much pressure off of me. I didn’t care what I looked like to other people and am only focused on how I truly feel on the inside. My yoga practice is my own and whatever someone else is choosing to do or can do has no effect on me.

Now I want you to go back and everytime you read the word “yoga” replace it with the word “life”. It will look like this:

LIFE is an individual journey not a competition. When I accepted and learned that LIFE isn’t a competitive sport – it took so much pressure off of me. I didn’t care what I looked like to other people and am only focused on how I truly feel on the inside. My LIFE is my own and whatever someone else is choosing to do or can do has no effect on me. 

What I began to realize is the principle of non-comparison in yoga should be translated into my everyday life, and it changed my whole perspective.

You can accomplish anything when you are patient, consistent, and believe in yourself. I had never stuck with anything in my life. I would bop in and out of workouts, and would make up excuses so I didn’t look dumb when I failed. Yoga was easier for me to stick to. It was my own personal practice, it felt great to stretch, and it was a no-judgement zone. Showing up for myself 3-4 times a week allowed me to set real goals and to watch myself progress over time. I’ll never forget when I balanced in headstand for the first time after working for weeks on getting my form correct. I felt so good that from start to finish I set a goal, I put the work in, I believed in myself and I did it. This was a first for me and made me feel so good about myself and inspires me to always work hard.

To get a yoga body all you need is a body and to practice yoga. I was so insecure about my body for years. I could never feel confident in my own skin. What I loved about yoga is it made me feel strong and beautiful from the inside out. Being able to hold a high plank or forming my body into a beautiful shape, these little things started to slowly build my self-confidence and make me feel beautiful. Yoga makes me feel like I am glowing from the inside out and truly at peace. It’s inner beauty that dictates your outer beauty and now I truly know and believe that.

I am still on my yoga journey (and my life journey) but I am so happy in the current relationship I have with myself and I attribute so much of that to a consistent yoga practice. I am continuing every day to work on the most important relationship in my life; the one with myself.

Xo Melis