Cultivating Self-Awareness

Hi friends,

Let me tell you a little story about self-awareness.

I began practicing yoga when I was 32, and right after having my third child at 35 I began having some odd symptoms. I was cold all the time, didn’t seem to perspire anymore; my hair was turning gray faster than it had been. I lost my sex drive, and my skin was super dry. I was more tired than normal, and despite being very active, I couldn’t seem to drop the last of my baby weight. One day I was picking up a prescription for my of my babies, I saw a sign at the local pharmacy that said “Do you have hypothyroidism?” I had eight of the ten listed symptoms. And clearly, I am supported by the Universe. Seeing this sign really made me stop and think about myself for a moment.

I scheduled an appointment with my general practitioner, and asked for my thyroid levels to be tested. He patted my knee, smiled and said “Ah, dear, you just have three young children and you are probably just a little depressed. Here, let me prescribe an anti-depressant for you to take the edge off.” I really do think that the “pre-yoga” Jill would have sighed and said yes. But perhaps it was because I knew so many people who took medicines and it didn’t seem to help. Maybe it was a family history of issues with those kinds of meds. (And no judgment; I just knew it wasn’t my answer at that time!)

I refused the prescription. Because of my yoga practice, I really knew my body. There was something wrong, and it wasn’t a case of the blues and it wasn’t a true depressive episode.

After refusing the medication, he agreed to allow me to be tested. And when the results came in he actually called me on the phone himself and said “good diagnosis, doctor.” My thyroid results were wildly off, and he placed me on thyroid medication.

Honestly, if I hadn’t known my body so well, I probably would have just accepted the prescription. Which would have sent me down a completely different road. I would have had something to mask the symptoms; but I still would not have had the vital hormone that I needed. Long-term lack of appropriate levels of thyroid are very damaging.

Yoga as a complete is an excellent tool for building self-awareness. Most people are aware of the yoga poses, but yoga is actually an eight-limbed process that helps to solve human problems. The second limb of yoga, the Niyama, includes what is termed “svadhyaya”, or study of the self. Understanding yourself is considered to be part of the ultimate goal of yoga. The poses are just one way to help you to understand your body and meet it on the mat every day.

If you want to take it to the next step, utilizing breathwork, concentration and meditation help you to understand how your mind works. Often people let the mind take over and do not understand it’s nature. Just like a computer it can become a distraction instead of being utilized as it was meant to be, as a tool, not a tyrant.

Astrology builds on this by helping you to understand how yourself. Most people operate from a simple understanding of their Sun sign, but by knowing their Moon sign (which is how you are emotionally functioning) and your Rising sign (the sign on the cusp of the horizon at the time of your birth that informs your body, your appearance and your outlook on life) are all key as well. From there you can learn your Venus sign (how you love); your Mercury (how you think and communicate), and onward!

As we grow, change, evolve and age, we become new people. We must consistently come back to understanding ourselves, who we are, what we want and what we aspire to do.

The ultimate awareness? It is self-awareness.

Shanti,

Jill