What does it mean to befriend the body? Yes, it means to eat well, stop criticizing, and accept yourself as you are. But in yoga, befriending the body means so much more.

Yoga teaches us that in addition to taking care of the physical aspects of the body, we also need to acknowledge and address the emotional aspects.

Even if you have a healthy relationship with body image and food, we've never really been taught how to interact with our body as a resource, and as a voice we can trust. In fact, we've probably been conditioned to not trust our body, or our intuition. We've probably been taught to rely on others, on outside appearance and opinion, or on societal and cultural norms for the answers.

Your body is not only a friend, but a trusted ally. Your body knows every secret, every sting, every heart-felt experience you've been through.

And your body keeps these experiences tucked inside cells and muscles, throbbing, pulsing, and alive, even if your mind remains unaware.

In yoga, befriending the body means accepting all its parts, forming a healthy relationship, and loving the body you were given. It also means listening to your body when something uncomfortable comes up, or when your intuition tries to get your attention. Befriending the body means learning how to listen, how to trust, and how to compassionately heal.

Even though I have done yoga for a long time, since I was 15, when I started doing yoga in order to heal, and as a spiritual practice, I finally understood how badly I had treated my body for most of my life. I finally understood that in order to heal myself - every single emotional wound - I would have to start in my body. I would have to change the way I saw my body, the way I talked to my body, the way I criticized, starved, and punished my body. I would have to ask my body for its forgiveness, and I would have to learn to trust my body, in order to trust MYSELF.

I remember attending a yoga class sometime during the summer of 2015. That was over 5 years ago. I sat in lotus pose and judged my body. I glared at my stomach that I called bloated and unattractive. I compared my entire form to another body in the room. I regretted the t-shirt I had thrown on and wished I would have combed my hair. I decided to go on a diet immediately when I got home.

There was no breath, no mindfulness, and no room for any insight to enter. I left class more frazzled than when I came. The critical voice in my head yelled incessantly about everything that was wrong with me. How could I listen to my body?

How could I heal, when I was so wrapped up in the chastising mind?

If you know me today, this story seems unbelievable. This is not how I practice yoga today, or how I guide my students and clients. I teach compassionate yoga so that we may re-learn how to treat and talk to the body. Holding a pose, from how we get in, to how we stay, to how we transition out, becomes a very revealing metaphor for how we treat ourselves.

The torments concerning my body do not hold so much power today. With practice, we can see the body as a friend and ally rather than the enemy. This is such freedom! When we treat ourselves with kindness and compassion, and the body responds lovingly. The body becomes a partner and a resource.

The body teaches us how to trust ourself.

Through poses, compassionate self-talk, gentle letting go, and other lessons from yoga, I have healed parts of my body and my soul that I didn't even know needed healing. I have released stuck pain and still don't understand how it happened, when it happened, or how to explain it.

Gradually, and with practice, we can learn to listen to our own intuition. We can become more accustomed to asking our body or our heart for answers.

Consider your yoga practice beyond the physical body. Consider your yoga practice as a way to heal, and a way to tune in to the wise inner voice that already exists within you. Your attitude will change. Your body will change. Your life will change.

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