Find Olympic Gold Inside

As I watched the Women’s gymnastics in the Olympics last night, I was awestruck by the truly amazing performances of these young ladies. Yet, as I looked at their bodies, I could also see the incredible physical sacrifices they have made in order to be in the limelight. While they are beautiful to watch, moving in this way isn’t necessarily something that ordinary people should aspire to.

In the world of gymnastics, athletes peak in their teens and early 20’s. Anyone in their mid-20's is considered to be “aging” out of the sport. In my work as a yoga teacher, I see a lot of people who did gymnastics as children and are now in incredible physical pain due to the way they beat up on their bodies when they were younger. By forcing their bodies into extreme angles, they caused damage that in many cases can only be reversed by surgery.

Many people think that Yoga and gymnastics are similar, yet they couldn’t be more different. Gymnastics is a spectator sport, with the goal being to impress the judges, while Yoga is an inward journey into the Self. Gymnasts tighten their spinal muscles and force their body into impossible angles in order to achieve the perfect routine. Gymnastics has an external focus and is about the mind controlling the body. In Yoga (at least in Svaroopa® Yoga, which is the style that I teach), we do poses to release tension in those spinal muscles,  and to allow your body to soften into each and every angle, the goal being to access a deeper dimension of your own being. What students find in Yoga is that they are able to let go of the mind controlling the body – and to actually get “behind” the mind to the Self.

Doing Yoga in this way is something that people can do well into their mid-life years and beyond. While it is not a spectator sport, it will help you maintain flexibility and balance in your body, and will keep your body healthy. Don’t be afraid to try it because you think you can’t achieve the perfect pose! No one will be watching or judging your performance. And while you may not get the gold medal, when you are able to fully settle into a Yoga pose, you will feel fulfilled in ways that you never imagined possible.