I'm in middle-age, and so far, my middle age years are pretty good! I've also been teaching yoga for 10 years. In all these years, there has been one very important message in all of my teaching, and that's to REDISCOVER YOURSELF.
How?...briefly...
Remember that what we learn on the mat - self-care, choice, self-awareness, and the balance between challenge and letting-go - are what we take with us off the mat and apply them in our everyday lives. The Mad Yogi Classes, Courses & Workshops offer you opportunities to tune-in to all these and help you rediscover yourself.
Loosing Yourself in Middle-Age
We've all heard the adage that aging is just a state of mind - and that's true.
Aging is our body wearing down over time; measuring time in a linear way. And yes, some physiological, and psycho-emotional effects of this progression are also expected to happen. That's how we define aging.
To that, a lot of stress and other emotional upheavals happen when we enter middle-age. We start to question, doubt and even regret choices we've made in our life. Sometimes, we tell ourselves that we're still not enough, or we've never been, or that life's passed us by.
If we stay in this echo chamber of self-judgement, we'll start to believe it, and make it our reality, if we haven't already. This mindset is what will make us feel old - at any age - and this mindset can have the insidious effect of burying ourselves in doubt, judgement, regret, loathing or apathy, coldness, and disinterest even in things that used to light us up.
Rediscovering Yourself - in middle-age +/- any number of years!
This is why it is important to address our mindset, because "aging" is just a transition from one state of being to the next, not a judgement on us.
How about our busy lives?
Yes, our lives are quite busy. We don't have the luxury of sitting in lotus pose all day and night in our aim to reach enlightenment - we have lives to lead!
The everyday necessities of living demand that we keep on moving, and this can lead to a sense of loosing ourselves in all the haste. But again, we don't have time to dwell on this, do we? So the cycle of self-judgement and ignoring ourselves goes on until all of a sudden - we're burnt out, or in our middle age, or both!
But, there's no rule stating that we can't rediscover ourselves - at any age.
Here's 3 very easy ways:
1. Revive your passions! Pick up a hobby you've put aside and enjoy the sheer delight of it. You don't have to create a masterpiece, you just have to create something or do something that makes YOU smile. Reconnecting with our passions have a strong emotionally stabilising effect, helping us with self-knowledge.
2. Pick up a NEW passion! Why not, right? For example, if you have the resources, why not enroll in a study or course you've always wanted to learn? I am thinking about getting a degree in horticulture, or permaculture...something in those lines. I'm still weighing options. If you find yourself in a similar situation, take your time, but not too long, or else the passion might fizzle out.
Another example, my hubby has been waiting for our son to reach 18 so they can do glass blowing classes together. There are affordable courses online that covers practically all topics, not to mention videos on streaming services. Learning something new also helps with neural plasticity, keeping our brains active and healthy.
3. Mix things up and discover something new about yourself! Whether that's with your exercise routine, your yoga practice, your house-cleaning schedule, your workload - anything you do regularly. It adds a different flavour and dimension to what can sometimes go on auto pilot, and we miss the enjoyment of the task. We have a separate blog that talks about this here: Mixing things up combines 1 & 2 in the best possible way - it invites you to go deeper into your self-awareness, acceptance, and kindness.
In the end, we have a choice to make, feel old and sour over our life or age gracefully and enjoy the sweetness of our accomplishments and the promise of more.
We rediscover ourselves in the choices we make, and it's entirely up to you.
💙 Aileen David - Mad Yogi
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