What is Mental toughness, and why would you want to cultivate it? Mental toughness is noticing what you are feeling, and not letting it take over your emotional state. It’s being a quiet witness to your emotions. Yes, you feel your anger, but you do not speak/yell of your anger.
Last week I went to see Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and besides a wonderful meditation he guided us through, I will remember this quote of his well……
“A Strong Mind can carry a weak body, but a weak mind cannot carry a strong body”
I am proof positive that through the active use of yoga postures, mental toughness can and should be learned in the mind. In my younger days, I used to cry at the drop of a bucket, getting a speeding ticket, someone criticizing me, standing up for my self, or any Hallmark commercial. I really disliked when I could not control my emotions, and would let tears roll, or speak angrily of someone I loved. I simply thought this is the way I am, and I will always be like this….I had no idea there was a way out..
As I did my yoga practice, the focus went more on my emotions and how I was feeling, and less venting to others the things I thought I couldn’t change. Sometimes I did vent, but usually, when we complain to others, there is something we can change about the situation or how we are viewing it. As I did this, a sort of mental toughness became part of me. It felt really good to have control of my emotions, and not the other way around.
Do not get this concept confused with burying your emotions, which often happens to the opposite sex. Emotions that go buried, often come out later in life as sickness, or a dis ease that one feels, and doesn’t quite know how to get rid of it.
Each and every yoga practice helps create a more calm, peaceful centered you, to take out into the world. It’s incredibly freeing!!
See you on the mat,
Paula
