How to Listen to Your Body
Moving from Ego to Compassion in Yoga Practice
When yoga enters your life as part of healing—from injury, chronic pain, or emotional stress—it invites you to a deeper conversation with your own body. It’s about tuning in, feeling, and responding with mindful compassion. But often, we come to the mat with an ego-driven desire to ‘push through’ or ‘achieve,’ which can hinder our healing process. Moving from ego to compassion transforms our practice into true self-care.
In my own journey, learning this was nothing short of transformative. At first, it was a struggle to surrender the tendency to “keep up” or “do more” on the mat, especially when I felt the resistance of injury. The voice that urged me to hold the pose longer or to push deeper into a challenging pose often masked a refusal to accept where my body was in that moment. It took me hitting my physical rock bottom (read more here) to finally see that real healing can only begin when we slow down and listen deeply.
Listening to your body means embracing the signals it gives you, especially pain. Pain is not an enemy to fight but a messenger to honor. It tells you when to soften, when to adjust, when to rest. This doesn’t mean giving up; rather, it means approaching your practice with a compassionate curiosity. Every sensation, every hesitation, every breath is a chance to learn more about your unique needs.
The shift from ego to compassion transforms yoga into an act of self-care rather than self-judgment. It invites you to move from chasing perfection to celebrating presence. This mindful awareness fosters not only physical healing but emotional resilience.
SAAL Yoga is grounded deeply in this philosophy. Our method supports you in recognizing pain signals and respecting your body’s boundaries, all while building strength and stability. It teaches you to adapt postures in ways that honor where you are today, not where you wished to be yesterday or tomorrow.
In the end, listening to your body is a lifelong practice. Through this mindful presence, healing becomes not only possible but beautifully sustainable. I look forward to the opportunity to practicing with you soon.