How to boost your self-confidence with yoga
Do you lack self-confidence? Do you wish you had more self-esteem? Yoga could be your personal key to happiness. By focusing intensively on yourself and your body, you strengthen muscles, find inner peace, and gain self-confidence.
In our article, we reveal to you why many people lack self-confidence in life and how you can gain self-confidence through targeted yoga exercises.
Lack of self-confidence robs us of our strength
Fear of failure before job interviews, sweating during presentations or important appointments. Almost everyone finds themselves in such an unpleasant situation. A little anxiety is perfectly normal. This is because our bodies release adrenaline. This boosts our circulation, making us feel more alert and more focused. But excessive excitement or deep feelings of anxiety have the opposite effect. They rob us of our energy, diminish our self-esteem, and unnecessarily hinder our lives.
Why do we lack self-confidence?
Every person has many experiences every day. Fortunately, many of them are positive. They enrich our lives and provide a strong sense of self-confidence. Unfortunately, however, we also experience negative experiences that leave a lasting impression on us and lower our self-esteem. We often remember bad experiences very vividly, while happy moments pale in comparison.
Our inner critic
Lack of self-confidence can be learned or stem from childhood. Upbringing and the amount of appreciation our parents gave us also play a major role. Every negative experience makes our inner critic stronger. It's always breathing down our necks, lashing out at every opportunity to make us feel insecure. But by building self-confidence, it can be silenced.
Reasons for lack of self-confidence - examples:
- bad experiences in childhood
- negative feedback at work
- Bullying at school
- lack of appreciation from parents
Yoga for more self-confidence
Yoga for more self-confidence? Even if it sounds unusual at first, you'll quickly realize there's real value in it. With targeted exercises, you'll become intensely aware of yourself from head to toe, find deep inner balance, and use your newfound strength in everyday life.
This is how yoga affects your body and mind:
- strengthens physical fitness
- gives the mind concentration
- restores inner balance
- ensures a clear head
- gives us a good body feeling and self-confidence
We have put together a few exercises for you that you can learn quickly and that will help you strengthen your self-confidence and self-esteem.
The fire breathing
With fire breathing, you activate your body purely through conscious inhalation and exhalation at different speeds. You'll feel a warm sensation and possibly more awake. Your entire metabolism is stimulated and is said to help the body eliminate toxins and promote digestion.
Important instructions:
Fire breathing is one of the most powerful breathing techniques in yoga. Therefore, it should not be practiced by people suffering from heart disease, epilepsy, or high blood pressure. Fire breathing is also unsuitable for people who have previously suffered a stroke or have problems with hyperacidity (heartburn, stomach ulcers).
This is how fire breathing works:
It's best to perform fire breathing while sitting. Either sit cross-legged on your yoga mat or use a meditation cushion . However, any other sitting position is also possible. The main thing is that you can relax in the pose and focus on your breathing.
Sit upright and close your eyes. Feel your breathing and concentrate on it completely. Now breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose. Breathe until your lungs are completely filled with air. Now breathe out forcefully through your nose, emptying your lungs completely. As you do this, imagine all the air flowing out of your stomach. A slight feeling of pressure in your stomach is normal. Repeat the fire breathing 20 times. Once you have completed the exercise, remain seated for a while with your eyes closed and allow peace to enter your body.
Asana Warrior II
The Warrior II asana has a very positive effect on your body. It strengthens your arms, legs, and abdominal muscles, among other things. Your chest and lungs open, and your balance and concentration improve. It also stretches your thighs and groin. Like a warrior, energy flows through you, increasing your self-esteem.
This is how the Warrior II works:
Stand relaxed on your yoga mat. Exhale and take a big step back with your left foot. Now turn it outward 90 degrees. Make sure your heels are aligned. Once you feel secure, raise your arms. They should be parallel to the floor and positioned above your thighs. Now turn your palms toward the floor. Do you have a hollow back? Simply rotate your tailbone slightly forward, and you'll straighten up. Your gaze should be directed straight ahead, and your torso should be parallel to the long side of your yoga mat.
Meditation at the end
After your yoga practice, give your body and mind the rest they need. Meditation is a must for every yoga session. Strenuous asanas or fire breathing exercises will really get your circulation going and your body working at full speed. As a balancing conclusion, lie down on your yoga mat in Savasana, the corpse pose, and find peace. Guided meditations that address self-confidence and self-esteem are ideal for this. They will help you on your path to strong self-esteem.
Dissolving beliefs through mantras
"I can't do this," "It will never work," or "I'm sure I'll fail again." Negative beliefs and feelings accompany almost all of us, consciously or unconsciously, draining our energy and diminishing our self-esteem. But everyone can learn to dissolve these beliefs. Mantras can help you do this, and they can also help you sustain the new energy gained through yoga for a long time.
Try these mantras:
- I believe in myself.
- I can handle any situation.
- I free myself from all fears.
- I allow myself to be happy.
- I can do this.
Which mantra resonated with you the most? Say it to yourself several times during meditation. Repeat it throughout the day until it's internalized. Once it reaches your subconscious and you truly believe in your spoken words, you'll feel the positive effect on your self-confidence.
