Meet yourself where you are.

This is the practice.

Are you showing up for yourself?

Are you meeting yourself where you are?

Take a moment. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Ground your feet into the Earth.

Feel the air on your skin.

Feel the kiss of your breath at the tip of your nose.

Feel the warmth of the sun radiate and warm your skin.

Feel your ribs expand and retract.

Loosen your stomach. That’s right, let it hang out.

No one is watching. And even if they are, let go of any perceived judgement. It’s not about them, it’s about you. Meet yourself where you are.

I have been practicing yoga, meditation, and mindfulness for 10 years. The principle of meeting yourself where you are is one of the hardest for me. I work daily, moment by moment, hour by hour, at setting aside expectation.

Let the expectation be there. Acknowledge it. Say “Thank you.”

Then let it go. I say to myself, I am letting you go. For I don’t need you anymore.

Then recognize the separation between yourself and that expectation.

That expectation is not a part of me. It doesn’t define who I am. It may have shaped my experiences. My perception of self. My lens on the world. But it is not the core of my being.

In some moments, it is easier than others to drop into yourself. By this I mean come into your being. Your breath. This breath. In, and out. Like an ocean wave, continually cresting and lapping gently onto the soft, wet sand.

Feel the tension release from your body. Notice where new tension may have come in.

Now meet yourself where you are. Good, bad, and ugly. With a nonjudgmental stance. I am here. I am ok.

When you are in the place in you, and I am in the place in me, we are one. Namaste.