A while back one of my yoga teachers told me a phrase that not only do I repeat numerous times a day but I tell to all my clients as well. This powerful phrase is “worry about your own yoga mat”. Let that sink in for a second.

How often do we create anxiety, depression and stress because we are comparing ourselves to others? Teens are doing this constantly especially with social media. They become consumed with what is everyone else doing, how does everyone else look, and what is everyone else achieving. The reality is we cant appreciate or enjoy our own life when all we do is compare. When we compare our life will always fall short. Someone else will also ways be prettier, smarter and more successful.

It doesn’t matter what anyone else has, that doesn’t take away from us. We need to focus on us and only us. In yoga it doesn’t matter what someone is doing on the next mat, that shouldn’t change your practice. You focus on you and your mat. You compete with yourself and no one else. 

Imagine how liberating it becomes to not feel like you have to compete with everyone else. The reality is we don’t even know others reality. We assume we do because of what we see posted or what they are projecting but we aren’t in their heads. So often teens in my office talk about the kids that have it all, that are smart and popular and successful. What they don’t know is that those kids are also in my office stressed and anxious and feeling that their life is not what they want. We never know the truth of others which is why when we compare we are comparing against a fantasy not reality. Try living life worrying only about your own yoga mat and see how freeing it is.