“I’m Excited vs. I’m Anxious”
Posted by Jill Reeves in 
Greetings, Beautiful Butterflies,
I just came across an interesting article about handling anxiety called, “Bring on the Butterflies.” A Harvard study found that when people tell themselves that an unsettling feeling means, “I’m excited” rather than, “I’m nervous” and focus on a positive outcome, it improves their performance.
This can be applied to your yoga practice as well as your life. Let’s say you are doing a hard pose; just take a deep breath, imagine yourself as strong and confident and go for it! The feeling should be, “Here we go!” vs. “Oh, no!” GIve it a try this week.
To be honest, I hate driving anywhere new where I don’t know where I’m going. Even with a GPS, my heart races and I don’t usually enjoy the experience and feel quite relieved when I arrive at my destination. If that’s how I go about things in my life, all I am doing is coping with anxiety by imagining the worst (getting lost) and clinging to the outcome more than the journey.
So stop and think about your “Oh, no!” tendency. Try this week to instill an “I’m excited about what this has to bring” feeling and see how it changes your perception of your anxiety and your yoga practice.
Namaste,
Jill
