Yoga: The Competition of the Self

　　At the end of the yoga class, the sisters did not leave immediately, but consciously stayed to exchange the new poses practiced in this class.
　　Hong also came over. She just joined our yoga class recently. She is very envious of the veteran students who have kung fu. At the same time, she lacks confidence in herself and is worried that she will not be able to persevere.
　　Hong’s worry and hesitation are common to many yoga beginners, especially when there is a comparison between new and old “Ga people” practicing together. Others can do poses easily and freely, but I am stiff and clumsy; others can sit beautifully in double lotus cross-legs, but I can hardly do a simple cross-leg; The foundation, not to mention the monkey pose and seated angle pose, which require long-term practice to do. The good looks of others are in the eyes, and the difficulties of oneself are in the heart, because they don’t know how far their future is. Many novices have been practicing for a few days, and then they are in this kind of loss and physical pain compared with others. Back off.
　　There are many such examples around.
　　Fourteen years ago, when I first walked into a yoga class, I also had such thoughts of frustration and withdrawal. Thankfully, I eventually convinced myself, and outdid myself, thanks to several things that I experienced first hand.
　　23 years ago, Ning, the daughter of a colleague, had just given birth to a child, and she and her lover took the child to Beijing Dance Academy to learn sports dance. At that time, except for her husband, who was as obsessed with this sport as her, no one could understand, and no one believed that a woman who was 27 or 18 years old, had no training foundation, and had a child could achieve any results! In those days, colleagues sighed and worried all day long, and even prayed that Ning would return as a deserter soon because he couldn’t stand the hard work of practicing qigong.
　　However, Ning did not become a deserter. Two years later, we saw Ning again at the National Sports Dance Competition. Although he did not achieve the desired results, in our eyes, Ning is a legend.
　　Ning’s story is so special that it is deeply rooted in my heart. She told me that with love, persistence, overcoming and patience, everything is possible.
　　Later, when I started practicing yoga, I was often annoyed by the pain caused by the movements and my inferior skills, and I was conflicted between giving up and persisting. At this time, Ning became a role model, and every time he persisted for a while, he had the ease and freedom later.
　　I became acquainted with the sport of yoga in 2008, and since then I have practiced it and fell in love with it. In the first class, not to mention the movement, even the rhythm of breathing was difficult to keep up with the coach’s password. I barely followed the class, but I was surprised. Relax”, which gave me the desire to take classes again.
　　Before practicing yoga, I diagnosed myself as a person with extremely poor peripheral circulation. My hands and feet are cold all year round, and I rarely sweat when playing basketball and badminton. However, after practicing yoga for half a month, not only the palms and feet became hot and began to sweat slightly, but also after a seemingly quiet and soothing yoga class, through the cooperation of breathing and movements, the pleasure of sweating is no longer a luxury . For a while, because I was doing research and publishing books, I often stayed up late to write materials, and I had a serious problem with my cervical spine. After practicing yoga for a few months, the condition of the cervical spine has improved. Half a year later, it has almost recovered, and dizziness and nausea rarely recur.
　　On March 8th in 2009, I hosted a celebration. Many sisters saw me that day and all praised my state, complexion, and figure… At that event, I just invited the yoga coach team to introduce and perform yoga, which can be regarded as an answer to the sisters: yoga makes me better ! Naturally, I became an evangelist for the movement of yoga. Therefore, more and more sisters began to pay attention to and practice yoga. Of course, many of them gave up halfway.
　　At the beginning of 2012, the unit held a New Year’s party, and my colleagues strongly recommended me to do yoga performances. Although I am not an excellent “actor” from the perspective of performance, I still accepted the task gladly. It was very cold on the day of the event. I had just participated in the rope skipping competition as the main force, and my physical strength was severely exhausted. I remember that day when I was wearing violet yoga clothes and walked barefoot on the yoga mat in the center of the hall, my heart immediately became calm and stable. I said: “I started practicing yoga at the age of 41. Yoga has taught me a lot and learned a lot. The most important thing is that yoga has taught me that it is both a sport and a competition, but it is not a competition with others, just like the mother of yoga. Ms. Zhang Huilan said, “Yoga is a non-competitive and competitive sport. To say it has no competition means not to compete with others, and don’t give up when you see that I am not as good as others; to say it has competition is to compete with yourself. When you want to give up, it is when you need to persevere.'”
　　That performance was evaluated as “shocking and moving” by everyone, and won the most warm and lasting applause from the audience!
　　No one is a born dancer, and no one can become a superb dancer without hard training. This hard training is full of competition between self and self. Only after crossing over, you will have the opportunity and qualification to compete with others.
　　14 years have passed, and I never think that yoga is a panacea for all diseases, and I don’t force myself to practice to a certain level. Just because I like it, I always follow it in my own way, experience it, and enjoy its beauty in the process, nourish my body and mind, and meet a better self in the competition of constantly surpassing myself.