10 ways I learnt to love myself in 2014
Firstly I learnt to love who I am, today, to appreciate all the last year has allowed me to grow into and to look forward to what the next year will bring. 
This last year, for me, was a time of growth. Last winter I built an extension on my little house and literally grew my personal space to include a yoga room and a tiny apartment ’above it for me to live in. Most importantly though was not the physical growth of my house, but the expansion of my pride in myself it signified! For I did it all by myself…something I am so proud of having achieved. Yoga in Cheshire grew as I grew, into more than just yoga classes, but a yoga community filled with love.
For many years I have allowed myself to live in fear, maybe I was brave in one area but much of my faith in myself was merely surface deep. This was evident when people would try to install fear in me…. saying ‘you can’t do that, what if it goes wrong, what if you lose everything you’ve built up’…and I listened!
However this time I did not listen to them…I listened to me! I trusted my intuition and I believed in myself! I believed that I could do what I needed to do achieve what I wanted. That I could trust myself. Part of this journey came from what I learnt on yoga retreats and holidays, letting go of what I did not need and exploring ways yoga could allow me to move forward into a braver happier me. Click here for more information.
After a year of learning in 2013 that failure sometimes isn’t failure but success, that moving on is often moving forward I had also, almost without realising it, learnt faith in myself. To cope, to achieve and to listen to myself. I had learnt what mattered to 
me
And to love
For without faith we cannot love
I learnt
1. To love my eccentricities! To enjoy being different and not feel the need to walk somebody else’s path just to keep them happy.
2. To connect with myself, and in that connection to listen to my intuition…my inner voice. Like all things that are loved and listened to, it grew braver in it’s opinions and hence allowed me the wisdom of its knowledge
3. To love my physicality..In all its broken ness! Yes I am often not physically able…and I live with chronic pain from a back/hip problem that I can maintain with yoga therapy but have accepted will require modern surgery to heal. I have learnt that this is a lesson in acceptance, faith and learning that physical ept ness does not a yogi make! That asana is not yoga! This obstacle has taught me patience and calmness as most importantly acceptance rather than resentment. For me the greatest gift yoga has provided, is the ability to see this a lesson to expand me rather than to limit me! 
4. To love my mind…in it’s geekiness and constant quest for learning. In it’s wonderful ability to read once and interpret quickly. I now love and cultivate the natural intelligence I was blessed with and allow it to grow into a knowledgeable base from which to heal and interpret. As my knowledge expands so does my faith in myself.
5. I love the quiet…I always have. However when I lived in fear I was often busy…maintaining distractions from the calmness behind the activity and the pause between thoughts. I was scared of hearing and feeling the connection to the universal energy; the connectiveness that now I crave. When it is quiet we are able to hear our inner voice…and only when we are honest with ourself is this a comfortable experience. However I have also learnt to understand too much solitude is not healthy for me and that I need to schedule time spent with others as well as time for me. This is why yoga retreats are so amazing.. peace without loneliness and support while we explore our inner quiet & listen to our inner guide.
6. I love to sit, to meditate. I didn’t say I found it easy but like all love, it is a challenge I enjoy! One I avoided in my early years of yoga practice preferring to focus more on the external…the physical. Now I realise how much I was missing out on. It is this practice that has allowed me to open to many of the other ways I have learnt to love. Maybe try a yoga workshop to discover more about how & why to meditate
7. I love myself. 
As someone wise once says…it doesn’t matter what others think of you it is what you think of yourself that matters. Well I have learnt to be proud of the ever changing, growing and eccentric being that I am. To love myself like you love a child, with forgiveness, with pride, with faith and with an all-encompassing love that allows them to be who they need to be on their journey. The more I realise I am following my true path the more I love who I am becoming.
8. In loving myself I have learnt to love others. To see the importance of friends and family. To allow others to share my life and to allow myself to be vulnerable to the experience of love.
9. To love new experiences….some for the experience and some for the knowledge it is not something I would choose to repeat!
10. To love challenge…for it is this that allows us to grow and expand into a bigger person than before. Obstacles and lessons are sometimes the opposite of fun, but even in that they allow us the opportunity to recognise our strengths, our friendships and our path. 
So this year for me has been a year of learning, of experiences. Of exploring new depths and new places, sharing myself with new students and new friends, enjoying yoga holidays, retreats and workshops to continue to expand my knowledge. Of deciding that I am ok in who I am and that the people I choose to share my journey with are those who allow me to love myself rather than doubt myself. For a life lived in love and gratitude is a life with lessons well learnt.
