Reveal Yourself - Hold Space for Acceptance

The conversation turned abruptly as a young woman from the back asked, “But how do we hold a space for acceptance of ourselves?” Amidst questions about slap tears, models for loads and various study references, her question was a drop of blood on the snow. The young woman started out, “But where did you start learning all this stuff, and did learning all this stuff about science help you accept yourself and your body as it is?” She was standing in the back and she looked fatigued from not understanding. “How do you hold a space for acceptance?” I felt the room change. I saw the instructor pause and take a slow moment to shift gears.

How do you hold a space for acceptance?

It’s a huge question. How do you hold yourself in the world? How do you accept yourself as you are while you are learning about all the physical things that you are probably doing wrong? I personally don’t believe that there are wrong or bad movements. But in a yoga teacher training it’s easy to get obsessed with and add value to the infinite choices we make as we are moving our bodies.  

In the case of this question, the subtext is, how do I hold space for myself to be as I am and have that be ok? How can I let myself be ok? Fuuuuuck! It is such a huge question. How do I affirm myself as a woman in a place that is constantly denying me? To not accept oneself and/or situation is to linger in the future or the past. I wish this were different. I wish I was different.

To accept ourselves asks us to examine the input that is coming in from the world around us and/or our families about who we are. If you accept yourself as you are, you are also saying, I am not that, I am not that, I am me. It doesn’t mean that you will always be like this. It doesn’t even mean that you like yourself. It simply means that you acknowledge the moment without judgment.  

How can you recognize yourself and your stories as beautiful? I can tell you over and over that you are gorgeous, that your work is important in the world, that you are worthy. But at the end of the day, I can only walk beside you. It’s your work to learn to accept yourself as whole, to value yourself as an important part of the world, and see that you are stunning and worthy af.

For today, take a moment to appreciate something hard you have been through. You! No one else went through it, and no one else is still standing to tell the tale. How have you grown from that challenge? Imagine you could offer comfort to that younger part of you, what would that look like? Your self-acceptance is some serious power. Own it. Be it.

xo