Yoga and self confidence

One of the definitions of self-confidence is “a feeling of trust in one’s abilities and judgement”. And some of the antonyms are diffidence, insecurity, self-distrust, self-doubt. What really steals our self-confidence? Sometimes it is very small remarks, actions or gestures to little boys and girls in their innocence. The seemingly harmless talk or action by parents, relatives, peers, friends, sow a seed of inadequacy, feeling of not being loved, feeling of being “less than” the other person, and so on. Sometimes it is serious unpleasant experiences which impacted the boy-child or girl-child negatively. Because as we grow up, we are not taught how to deal with negative emotions, they pile up, ferment until the body and mind can’t handle them anymore. Then they manifest into insecurity, self-distrust, self-doubt... The more the mind keeps replaying what people said or did the more it gets validated, and it is brought to life. As we grow up, for as long as we have not purposefully done any program to rid ourselves of negative emotions, they stay, and the play in the mind becomes more “sophisticated” as well, it goes to another level. At the teen level, the behavior you see is about wanting to prove yourself to the world, to show people that you are better, more beautiful, aggression creeps in, selfishness creeps in anger, and before you know it delinquency of sorts sets in. Ultimately unhappiness and depression come. At the adult level the negative emotions continue to manifest in different shapes and colors. It creeps up in family relations as lack of peace, lack of love, lack of togetherness… It creeps up in work relations as aggression, arrogance, being insensitive to others, fueling fights, abuse, or selling oneself to seek favors, etc. In church relations it creeps in as jealousy, gossip, ill feeling towards others. The list goes on... In all these situations yoga does help. Remember “Yoga” in all the past 13 articles refers to the regular practice of a combination of yoga stretches, breathing exercises and meditation. As you’ve been following from the previous articles, regular practice of Yoga brings inner peace, calmness, self-discovery, self-confidence, self-worth. Peace of an individual leads to improved relations within the family, community, nation, and ultimately to world peace. Art of Living programs present the opportunity to make 2019 a year of good change. More next week…