Mirror Mirror

We place so much emphasis on what is outside. How we look, what we are wearing and what the scales say.

But we only ever see a reflection of ourselves. If we don’t know where to look for it, we often miss our true beauty.

I had a conversation with a few women the other day who were laughing and saying that if only they could have appreciated when they were younger, how fit and healthy their bodies were.

They were wistful and regretful about not appreciating what was there, and then it was gone.

But it wasn’t gone. I was looking at two beautiful, accomplished women and still they couldn’t see.

Ignorance, or avidya, covering what  is obvious to everyone else.

In the yoga scriptures it says we are born with avidya, a fundamental blinding to actual reality, based on our perceptions. Our perceptions stemming from our beliefs about life, our parents beliefs, our teachers beliefs, societal beliefs – everything from what we should look like to how we behave. These form the cornerstone of what we can see – our version of reality.

We decide who we are based on our beliefs, our perceptions, our likes and our dislikes, our accomplishments, our failures. We decide how worthy we are. Whether we are enough. And mostly, we come up short.

We might talk a big game but deep down we are all just longing to be seen, to be heard, to be valued, to be loved. And if we don’t value ourselves enough then we see only what our perceptions allow.

People reflecting like mirrors to us, how we truly feel inside.

But when we change this. When our yoga practice deepens, when our meditation reaches into our soul and starts to remove our avidya, our ignorance, of reality…then we start to see.

I was blind but now I see.

The truth. Our worthiness. Our enough-ness. Our utter perfection. Our contentment with all that is and all we have.

In the mirror we only ever see a reflection of ourselves…. we have to look inside to see what is real. 

See you on the mat xxxx