What Makes Transformation Work

In my quest to understand my yoga practice more, I started reading Thad's copy of Journey Into Power : How to Sculpt Your Ideal Body, Free Your True Self, and Transform Your Life With Yoga
by Baron Baptiste. As I began Chapter One, "Where Transformation Begins", a sentence jumped out at me that truly defines why my own personal transformation has been successful this time when I had failed so many times in the past.

"We can try all different kinds of techniques to transform ourselves, but unless we address the underlying structure, we are just moving the pieces around."

When talking with people about my weight loss and the general change in my disposition overall (happier, centered), everyone wants to know what I did. In fact just the other morning I was at a Jazzercise class and saw a woman I hadn't seen in a couple months - she commented on how great I looked - and then the questions began, even as the music was starting for class -- What plan did I follow? What am I doing?

They want to find a quick fix, the solution that will finally work for them - their holy grail. If it worked for me, it will work for them, they figure. I always tell them the basics of what I've done - eating healthy, whole, unprocessed foods, making exercise a mandatory part of my day that I enjoy, learning what in life truly matters and letting go of the rest - but I also explain that it was a total life change for me. And that's something that's going to be very personal to everyone. I can't tell you what is going on in your personal life, what issues you are working through, what relationships might be causing stress, what is going to really matter for you - because it's individual - and when you find that answer - that's when transformation is going to work and everything else will just fall into place. Truly. Baron just nailed it on the head - when I read that quote, I thought, that's EXACTLY what it is.

"If you only change what you do, all you get are temporary alterations to your actions. Shift your inner viewpoint, though and your world transforms."

When your inner viewpoint changes - there's no stopping it. So, to the lovely well-meaning people who tell me how great I look and they don't see that I need to lose more weight - that's the part that I have a difficult time explaining - my body will become its best version of itself on its own now that I've made these changes in my life. I'm not obsessed about the next 25lbs (even if I am perhaps impatient to get there already!) because I know they will come off. I have no plans to return to my former sedentary, high stress life that included unhealthy foods on a daily basis. It just is not me anymore, and it really is that simple - and so my life has transformed.

So much of this book totally clicked with what I've found to be true, as well as goals I have as I continue to grow.  I look forward to continuing to learn more about myself through my yoga practice and become a better person through it. There are many lessons to realize as a beginner that I struggle with, and I know that they will also help me in my life off the mat. I'll write more soon about some of those lessons and goals to share with you.