7 Surefire Ways to Boost Self Acceptance with Yoga!

*Updated October 2024

Boost self acceptance with yoga at any age! Practicing yoga has immeasurable benefits for the body, mind, and soul. It can also be particularly helpful if you struggle with body image or self-esteem issues. Fortunately, there are several different styles of yoga, so you can always find a class that works perfectly for you!

And, regardless of age or fitness level, yoga will meet you where you are physically because any posture can be modified. With roots in ancient India, yoga has become an extremely popular, effective form of exercise all over the world.

”Yoga is not about being good at something, it’s about being good to yourself”

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Ancient Practice

Yoga is an ancient mind and body practice with a 5,000-year history in Indian philosophy which combines physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation (dyana). According to Medical News Today, A regular yoga practice can promote endurance, strength, calmness, flexibility, and well-being.

Yoga has many physical and mental benefits, including:

• building muscle strength
• improving flexibility
• supporting better breathing
• improving heart health
• helping with treatment for addiction
• reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain
• improving quality of sleep
• enhancing overall well-being and quality of life

7 Surefire Ways to Boost Self-Acceptance with Yoga

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1. Yoga Gives You Space to Feel Your Emotions

I began practicing in earnest during my divorce. Due to its mental and physical benefits, I was drawn to yoga. And, I learned that yoga class was a safe place to experience my emotions.

If you are holding onto emotional pain or anguish, different poses may cause painful emotions to bubble to the surface.

In yoga class, you are more willing to accept and face these uncomfortable feelings. As you continue to attend class and work through the discomfort, you will finally come to a place of catharsis and resulting peace which is extremely empowering and can boost self acceptance.

In the sacred mind-body communion of yoga, you will uncover your greatest capacity for love, self-knowledge, and self-acceptance.

2. Yoga Helps You Connect to Your Deeper Self

Most of us are closely identified with ego. The ego wants you to believe that you are your personality, but this isn’t the whole truth.

Your personality is an aspect of you based on genetics, life experiences, past conditioning, and karmic memory. However, there is a deeper, more expansive self that you can connect to through your yoga practice. Yoga helps you discover your true nature and boosts self acceptance. It frees you from the historical limitations of who and what you were to become something greater and better.

Yoga helps you to connect to your deeper self in two ways.

You learn your true nature.

Many people confuse their true nature with their personality traits. But, in order to boost self-acceptance, it’s important to know that you are not defined by your past behavior, thoughts, or experiences.

You get better insight into who you want to be.

“This is who I am.” How many times have you said this or heard someone else say it? This might sound a lot like self-acceptance, but it’s not. You are continually evolving, growing, and changing with each new experience. And, practicing yoga boosts authentic self-acceptance while helping you define who want to be.

“The process of yoga helps us to to evolve from being a person to a presence.”

Sadghuru

3. Yoga Teaches You How to Self Soothe

Yoga boosts self acceptance by training both the mind and body to be calm and non-reactive. By focusing on your breath through a sequence of postures, you’re better able to control your mental and emotional state.

Therefore, when you experience stress or other negative emotions, you can get bring yourself back to your center and self soothe more easily.

Breathing Techniques

In yoga, you open and work all of your respiratory muscles to improve airflow, oxygenation, and the release of carbon dioxide. As a result, you experience an positive, joyful feelings which boosts self-acceptance. And, through conscious breathing, you can relax the body and calm the mind.

Yoga Poses

Postures are also useful for managing stress. When you’re stressed out your body releases stress hormones. This causes an elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, and increased blood pressure. These are the protective measures the body takes to help you deal with outside stressors.

However, being in this fight or flight state for prolonged periods of time is unhealthy. It takes you out of presence and pulls you away from living authentically because you are constantly in reactive mode. Studies have shown that there is a definitive connection between yoga and yuor overall physical, mental, and emotional health.

Yoga quiets the active thought patterns of the mind helping us live better and suffer less. The following poses are particularly beneficial for self-soothing.

• Child’s Pose (Balasana) and Pigeon Pose (Kapotasana) are restful poses that allow you to relax your mind, concentrate on your breath, and become aware of your body. And, as a result, you can quiet your mind and restore of peace and clarity, boosting confidence and self-acceptance.
• Cat/Cow Pose (Marjariasana) supports the nervous system and instantly calms the body. In turn, your body is able to release tension trapped in the spinal cord.
• Head-to-Knee Forward Bend (Janu Sirsasana) calms the brain and helps relieve mild depression, anxiety, fatigue, headache, and menstrual discomfort.
• Corpse Pose (Savasana) is a posture of complete relaxation, which may take some effort, but has wonderful soothing benefits.

4. Yoga Gives You Courage

Yoga gives you the courage to to be your imperfect self. And, although there may be other people in your class, when the door closes, it’s essentially just you and your yoga mat. And, this empowers you to cultivate a relationship with self and challenge yourself in a gentle way.

Yoga class is the one safe place where you are allowed to fail. And, not only does this give you courage, but you learn to appreciate and honor where you are on your path. And, it also helps you to support other people both in and out of yoga class.

As a result, you experience a greater respect for all living things. Nurturing compassion for self, others, and the environment is a beautiful and unique advantage of being a yogi.

“I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.”

Andre Lorde

Meet Yourself Where You Are

When practicing yoga, you have to meet your body where you are and work from there. It’s liberating to know that you don’t have to be perfect. You can fail and try again without judgement, and every class will be different.

The yoga studio is a safe place to experiment with physical and mental boundaries. Each class makes you stronger and braver because you can take risks, push past boundaries, and test your limitations. And, this newfound courage will spill into all the other areas of your life.

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”

The Bhagavad Gita

5. Yoga Helps You Improve Body Image

It’s common to see images of perfection plastered all over social media. So, it’s understandable that you may struggle with body image and self-esteem issues. However, with principals rooted self-compassion, inner peace, and self-acceptance, yoga will teach you be kinder and less critical of your physical appearance. While practicing yoga, you can give yourself permission to turn off the noise of the outside world and tune into your body.

In this sacred space, you practice gratitude for all of the bodily systems that keep you healthy and alive. Your muscles will get stronger and you will feel more energized. As a result, you will enjoy a kinder and gentler relationship with self and enhanced feelings of self-acceptance with yoga.

“With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side, each day I am more and more on my own side.”

Susan Weiss Berry

6. Yoga Emphasizes Progress Over Perfection

For me, entering the yoga studio is a spiritual experience. I love the ritualistic feeling of placing my yoga mat down, unrolling my favorite towel, and grounding myself in presence. It’s a reminder that for the next 90 minutes, I will grow, learn, play, push boundaries, and connect deeply with my body and breath. And, even after doing this hundreds of times, there is an ever-present feeling of joyful anticipation.

Practicing yoga is a process of self discovery, not a means to an end. It’s a place where you can check your ego at the door.

Yoga is unique in that every class meets you exactly where you are. And, this helps to boost self acceptance!

You will make progress, try new things, fail, and start again. But, within these fluctuations, you will celebrate signs of progress: strengthening muscles, better balance, and increased mindfulness.

Finally, being a yogi doesn’t mean that you won’t strive for excellence. But, there’s an innate understanding that you are never finished growing and learning. And, you will boost self-acceptance with yoga knowing that you will persevere despite the obstacles.

”Your body exists in the past and your mind exists in the future. In yoga, they come together in the present.” 

B.K.S.Iyengar

7. Yoga Helps You to Recognize the Humanity We All Share

Human nature can sometimes cause us to make assumptions, jump to conclusions, and feel envious. Even in yoga class, the ego will rear its head at times.

You might crave recognition and praise, or push yourself too hard. But, as you work through these all too human feelings in class, you will begin to push beyond and overcome these initial reactions.

Yoga practice has also taught me to put aside my first impressions. Instead of judging others, I have more compassion and recognize that everyone has their own struggles and insecurities. By honoring their humanity, I feel a connected to something larger than myself.

At some level you recognize that, through yoga, you are confronting your fears and moving forward with courage. And, as you work through the postures with your yoga pals, there is an underlying feeling of camaraderie.

Boost Self-Acceptance with Yoga

There are so many ways wonderful and surprising ways to boost self-acceptance with yoga And, when you can look at yourself yourself without judgment you will learn to love all the parts of yourself unconditionally.

You will also feel more love and compassion for others. And, you will have a greater capacity to spread that love to everyone and everything around you.

How have you been able to boost self-acceptance through yoga? Have you experienced any of the above benefits or something different? I’d love to hear about your yoga journey. Please comment below and let’s get the conversation started!

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Disclosure: Melissa Damiani is a participant in the Routine Probiotic Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to merchant, and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking amazon.com. Although I only promote products that I love, use, and have confidence in, always do your own research before purchasing any product or service. Read my disclaimer here.