Authenticity

"Don't ever trade your authenticity for approval."

I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about authenticity. It started with a conversation I had early in the week. It was a heavily "yogi-driven" conversation (but could be applied anywhere) and my takeaway was that even though I'm new to this yoga community and I'm trying to break into teaching in different places, I don't ever have to conform or change who I am or should be just to fit in to certain places - be it studios, communities, Instagram, or wherever. There is plenty of space for me to be me. Whoever that is. I get to decide. And nobody's going to tell me who I should to be and how great is that?! Every week, I listen to a podcast called "Truth and Dare" (and I HIGHLY recommend it!!) Their tagline is "living our truth and daring to change" and that's exactly what I've been doing. But it's so easy to act a certain way, do certain things just to fit in.

I develop at least one new yoga sequence a week for the classes that I teach and that usually comes from me just moving and feeling and doing. Sometimes, it's around a peak pose. Sometimes it's based loosely on a class I've taken. This week, I dug deep into my authenticity and created a sequence around balance. Balanced breath, balancing poses, balancing chakras - just getting everything balanced so that we can then see ourselves for who we really are. It's impossible to rise up in tree pose if someone is pushing you. But if you're really firm in your foundation and your focus, it's easier to stand in tree despite what's going on around you.

I got to teach this "Authentically Balanced" class yesterday and I had someone approach me after class and tell me my words really resonated with her. She's been struggling with a big project coming up and she wasn't sure how she was going to approach it and I had inspired her to go with her gut. That was the best feeling in the world. It was the first time somebody has ever said something that specific about a message I delivered in a yoga class. And I don't think it's any coincidence that it came from my heart. It was authentic and she saw that. I inspired her! I also made that class fit ME, I didn't change who I am to teach that class (although plenty of modifications were offered!)

The moral to this story can be summed up in a quote I found in all my research around this topic this week. "You can not fail at being yourself." You're literally the best YOU in the entire world. No one does it better. So get out there this week and be the BEST you. Not the you you think others want you to be. But truly and authentically YOU.

Namaste.