Put On Weight

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi guys,

Although I teach yoga what has happened and it started last year October, I feel into a bit of depression. Although I carried on teaching, I found that my practice suffered. I am back into the swing of things now, doing both Hatha & Kundalini but i am in despair as to the little bit of weight I have put on. I know I should not be feeling these things but I cannot shift the thought of how Much weight I have put on. I am totally disgusted with myself at the moment. I have never felt like this before. I am doing 2 hours of yoga weekends and an hour in week days. Is this how a teacher should feel. My students always leave glass happy and re-energised, which I suppose is a good thing as I would certainly not want to project what negative thoughts I have of myself on them. :confused:

#2

If you don’t like something, change it.
If you cannot change it, find the joy in it.

Of course yoga teachers feel. We are supposed to be more feeling. So I’d not reject your feelings nor place them in judgement. It is fine to feel depressed and frustrated. These are real.

However this does beg a question. And that is this:

[I]In what way(s) did your teacher training provide you with tools for dealing with what is now coming up?
[/I]
The training of a yoga teacher must aspire to a level where the trainee takes away with them a context to deal with all things that will come up in their lives. This will pass and something else will come up down the road that you’ve “never felt” before.

So I’m curious what your teacher, school, peers would share with you here. I’m also wondering what parts of the applied philosophy of yoga you can apply. How would you advise a student in a similar situation? What pieces from your training seem relevant here? If we could bring those to the fore in this thread we might really have an empowering discourse.

#3

secretangel –

You are beautiful!
No matter how much weight you put on, you can still inspire others and your friends and family will still love and care about you. Let your validation of the self come from inside, not from how you see the outside world reflected against yourself. Would you tell your best friend that her thighs were getting bigger or her arms were looking fat every time you see her? Probably not, so why repeat those things in the mirror every time you look into it? Write a note on your mirror with lipstick that says “You are outrageously beautiful!” Every time you look at it, say it out loud. Stop the negative sentences from repeating and let something positive take their place. It might feel stupid at first to talk to yourself while you’re brushing your teeth, but remember that people twenty times uglier than you can ever imagine yourself to be are still happy with they are. Its only a matter of your perception and not what you really look like that matters.

Every moment you spent negatively thinking about your body is another moment that you allow the effects of stress to halt the natural process of health and healing in your body. How often in your schedule do you allow for a personal practice, minus the class? Make time to truly love your practice. The stress will decrease, your body will stop producing stress hormones like cortisone and expending extra glucose – you’ll be hungry less, your metabolism will function at its highest, and you’ll forget about your weight long before it simply disappears.
Good luck. :slight_smile:

#4

It started last year October, and it persists . . . If you haven’t found the solution with the tools at your disposal it’s time to find at least one more tool. As IA mentions, it might be a tool you have in a deeper back pocket than you’ve thought to check. (Not a surprise with depression.)
What would you advise a student or a friend who came to you with a similar story? You also deserve the application of your education and insight. Please consider that an outside perspective from a person who can see you and converse in real time might be very helpful.

#5

I hear you all. You are all right, what do I advise my students when they are feeling low, I never thought of taking a leaf out of my own book. The other thing is yes Apart from the classes, I need to (which I have done recently) start to do Yoga for me and not just my students. Hence the 2 hours over the weekend and the hour everyday in the morning as I run my classes in the evening.

#6

I agree with all of these responses! And am curious: What would you say to a student/friend experiencing the same thing? After having stated it out loud, do you find it readily applied to your own situation? If not, there might be a mix up on what you know to be true and what is true for you. It seems we make ourselves the exceptions to rules, especially when it comes to our guilt/shame/fears. We tell our friends “are you kidding? you are lovely! and warm!” and shower them with many other compliments rooted from our real understanding of them. But to ourselves we hold onto “I am awful. Fat. Terrible.” etc. and shoot poisonous darts suicidally.

Why are we prone to doing that? And have you noticed that the problem comes from women far too often? We’re fabulous and flawed, wonderfully so…so why can’t we just shut the inner-critic out, change what we don’t like and live with what can’t be changed?!

Secretangel, I am in NO way criticizing you in that last spew of questions. In fact, I have been anxious and in and out of depression for a long portion of my life. I am finally now meeting with a therapist and getting acupuncture treatments for a slight head tremor I’ve had for about 10 years that has left me incapable of public speaking without getting nervous about people noticing it. Are you seeking any assistance from a therapist, mentor, friend in regard to your feelings? Techne was right to say that sometimes an outside perspective can help. It’s not safe to be alone in the “dark” in our minds all by ourselves. Again, we’re terribly UNFORGIVING of ourselves, even if we’ve done nothing wrong.