ARE YOU LIMITING YOURSELF?

A new participant in Chair and Qi on Wednesday mornings recently said “I wasn’t sure about the chair part, and thought it might be too easy for me, but I felt like I got a great workout, and I loved the Qi Gong and focus on breath, energy, and mindfulness that was interwoven with the Yoga.” Because this person was able to suspend her beliefs in favour of open-minded exploration and curiosity, a new and creative way of inviting health and resilience into her daily life was discovered through direct experience.

Limiting beliefs can hold us in limbo, prevent us from exploring new pathways of revelation and awareness, or worse still lock us into negative spaces that greatly inhibit joy and fulfillment in our lives. The stories you tell yourself are powerful, but not necessarily true. They lurk in the unconscious, laying in wait to self-sabotage or obstruct. That is....unless we consciously aim to change our AIM - Attitudes, Intentions, Mindset.

For those of us who may have experienced the fitness trends of the 80’s and 90’s, anything less than a heavy sweat and a demanding aerobic workout may seem unworthy of giving our time to. This belief can limit our capacity for exploration of valuable ways in which we can foster our health and resilience. Or maybe there is an underlying negative belief about the value of yoga, mindfulness, or qi gong that holds us back from experiencing their potential benefits.

Everyone develops beliefs from early childhood, some of which are supportive, and some of which are limiting. For instance, children who are treated as though they are loved and valued will develop the belief that they are loved and wanted. On the contrary, children who are abused or neglected may tend to develop the belief that they are unworthy and unwanted. We all hold some limiting beliefs that we think to be true, until we bring them out into the open for fresh examination. We learn to adopt the beliefs of our tribe, our family, our environment, our friends and neighbours, and our culture, until we feel able to step back and look at whether or not those beliefs are actually true for us.

Limiting beliefs are often unconsciously reinforced by our negative self talk. We may not even be aware of how frequently we criticize ourselves. Statements like “I could never do that”, “I don’t matter”, “I’ll never be as good as..” or “I am not loveable” are surprisingly common in our culture. But it is never too late to begin, and there are lots of resources out there to support us in our personal growth and wellness.

The first step to positive change is self awareness. This is one of the first principles of Emotional Intelligence (Daniel Goleman). Developing mindfulness, our ability to stay in the present moment, our capacity to be present with our breath and with our movement, to develop our inner senses and to keep coming back to that sense of presence, is a beautiful place to begin.

Through mindful yoga and movement, on the fertile ground of self compassion, self acceptance, and kindness, we come back again and again to a deeper understanding of ourselves and others, and open doors we may never have imagined. This may be challenging work, but it is the guiding light to a pathway of growth, inner peace and fulfillment. It is never too late. Our development may not be linear, so we come back, and come back again…..finding new pathways, new doors.

As the wonderful poet and philosopher Rumi said:

Come, come whoever you are.

Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.

It doesn't matter.

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vow

a thousand times

Come, yet again, come, come.