Real Life: Moving from "Worrier" to "Warrior"

This illustration inspired the title of this post. Keep reading to learn my tips on moving from "Worrier" to  "Warrior". 

Welcome to another "real life" blog post! I try my best to keep it "real" both on my blog and social media. To me that means being a bit vulnerable sometimes and sharing my truth. You can check out my past real life posts about a week in my life as a yoga teacher, and what it takes to follow your dreams. 

Worrying happens. It’s part of being human I think. The good news is, when you start to have anxious,limiting thoughts, or are filled with self-doubt, you have the power to change the dialogue. Recently I was informed that a Rec Centre Yoga class I have taught for a couple years would not be renewing their contract with the studio that employed me.  This situation had great potential to send me into a self-doubt spiral, and honestly, would have in the past. This time, however, I was able to navigate the situation with much more ease and much less worry, which inspired me to write this post.  Here is what helps me when I find myself deep in that self-doubt/worry spiral – maybe it will help you move from a Worrier to a Warrior too. 

1. Be Mindful – We have millions of thoughts a day, they just float in and out of our consciousness and sometimes, we get stuck on one or two. If you can work on being mindful with your thoughts, then you can catch those less than constructive ones in their tracks, simply by noticing them. For example, when I read the email about the situation above, the pit in my stomach said “They don’t think you’re a good teacher”, “you’re not good enough” and a variety of less than helpful and kind thoughts. I noticed those thoughts, and responded “hello limiting beliefs” (not out loud of course… ;)) Just being able to notice and label the thought gives you a grasp on it, which is what you need to be able to let it go. 

2. Be Present – Most times the stories that we tell are future stories (Well if this happened today, then tomorrow this will happen and I will end up losing my job and all my money and no one will love me by next week!), or past stories (this probably happened because that one time I did this and if I just had done that instead – let’s play that over and over and over). We have little to no control over past and future situations which is likely one of the reasons they are so bothersome.  What I find helpful when I haven’t been able to mindfully label my thought and let it go - therefore ending up in “story mode” - is to get grounded in the present. What am I doing right now? Where am I right now? What is happening in this very moment? I am sitting in my chair in my office. I just ate lunch. I am working. I have to send an email. I’m going to make some tea….. None of these thoughts are particularly activating, and get me grounded in the here and now, which is the only moment I can do anything about.

3. Be rooted in the truth – Now that we are in the present moment, let’s be truthful. What is true right now? I have a partner that I love and who loves me. I have a family that I love and who love me. I have a job that provides me with enough money to survive and live a good life. I have friends. I have a body that is healthy. These things will not change if I lose this teaching job or if I lose all my teaching jobs. My family doesn’t love me because I am a good Yoga teacher. My friends aren’t only spending time with me because I teach a certain number of classes per week. The Yoga studio didn’t revoke all of my classes and tell me I can’t teach for them anymore. The email said “thanks for the great instructor”. These are the facts. 

4. Be Grateful – Once you have your true facts, throw some gratitude at them. I am so grateful to have loving family and friends. I am so grateful that I have more than one job to support me. I am so grateful for the yoga studio that continues to support me and provides me training to help me grow as a teacher. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to teach that class for as long as I did because I loved teaching that group. And so on, and so on…. Gratitude really does have the power to shift your entire perspective and mood.  

Feel Better? I know I do, and I truly hope that next time you find yourself in a self-doubt/worry spiral, you’ll be able to use these tools to make your way out of it.

Yoga Pose: Tree Pose

Tree Pose - Vrksasana - is my favourite of the balancing poses. It really allows me to focus on grounding into the earth (or rooting - since we are a tree ;)) while finding my balance and lengthening through the spine and upper body. Of course, there are lots of benefits to this pose, including increased balance and strengthening of the legs, feet and ankles. There are three ways you can practice Tree pose - as pictured above - you can keep the toes resting into the ground to help with balance, you can bring the foot to the inner calf, or up into the inner thigh. Work where you are at! Keep reading for more details on how to move into this pose and find a helpful visual at the end of this post. 

Difficulty Level: Beginner

Step One: Begin by standing in Tadasana, keeping your hands on your hips, focus on grounding through the four corners of your Left foot into the mat. You may want to try picking up the Right foot just to test the balance. 

Step Two: Bend the Right knee, either placing the foot to the Left inner calf, thigh, or keeping the toes onto the mat for extra support. IMPORTANT: Please do not place the foot on the knee joint.

As you bend the knee, you are externally rotating the hip joint - so the knee is now pointing away from the Left Leg. As the Right foot presses into the Left leg, the Left leg presses back into the foot. 

Step Three: Notice where your hips are in space. Often the hip on the bent leg lifts up in this pose - we want the hips to be level. Keeping the hands on the hips, try bringing the hip bones into one line. 

Step Four: Breathe and Balance. Try staying her for 10 breaths - remember, it's ok if you fall out, just try your best! 

Palms can join at Heart center.

Shoulders release down and away from the ears.

Spine is long, reaching through the crown of the head as the foot continues to ground you to the earth. 

Perhaps you can raise the arms, stretching and lengthening through the upper body, reaching the finger tips to the sky. 

Step Five: To release, bring the hands back to the hips and carefully step the right foot to the floor. Now try on the other side!