yoga for confidence

The Benefits of Yoga for Confidence and Self-Esteem

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When you look at social media and magazine covers, it’s hard not to feel bad about yourself. We constantly get told that we aren’t thin enough, thick enough, or good enough.

Combatting these messages takes strength and immense self-esteem. How can you build your self-esteem and become more confident?

One of the best ways to increase confidence is by practicing yoga. Yoga benefits your mind, body, and spirit and it elevates self-worth. To learn how you can use yoga for confidence, keep reading.

1. It’s Self-Soothing

Those moments of self-doubt and low self-esteem are hard on our souls. We often feel unstable, unhappy, and in distress.

One of the best purposes for yoga is to self-soothe.

Self-soothing is the practice of calming the mind and allowing your heart to heal. It’s about allowing yourself grace and patience to pause your emotions. When you self-soothe, you pause those negative feelings and start to think clearer.

The most powerful self-soothing yoga position is Child’s Pose. In this pose, you kneel on the ground and sit back on your heels. Your big toes should be touching, and your knees should be hip-width apart.

Fold forward and stretch your palms as far as you can in front of you. With your palms facing the floor, relax your neck and torso between your knees. Breathe deeply and slowly as you sink into the ground.

As you practice Child’s Pose, imagine the space between your torso and the ground as “safe space”. There’s no judgment and no negativity allowed. You are safe to look objectively at yourself and see the value within.

2. Learn to Slow Down

Have you ever noticed how fast those feelings of self-judgment appear? You’ll be scrolling through your feed, see an image, and feel inferior. Sometimes it’s subconscious, other times it’s at the forefront of your mind.

Yoga for confidence and self-esteem is about slowing down those impulsive thoughts.

Although your first thoughts may be negative, deep down you know they’re not true. You need to learn to create time and space between those thoughts so you can decide how you want to feel. Your first response emotions come from a place of fear, not self-esteem.

One position that trains you to slow down is Crow Pose. This pose can seem scary and unattainable at first. But, after lots of practice and patience, you can do it.

By starting with the foundational steps, you break the pose down. You start small and at the beginning. Slowly, you accomplish harder and harder steps until you’re upside down in Crow Pose.

3. See Beauty in Uniqueness

There’s one message that almost every yoga teacher will want you to hear: it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to love yourself and embrace your uniqueness.

Many first-time yogis feel intimidated by the more advanced students in their class. But, your practice isn’t about what others are doing. Keep your eyes on your own mat because this is about you.

Yoga teaches you that your body is beautiful and capable. It’s been on a completely unique and individual journey to bring you to the mat today. What makes you different makes you worthy and beautiful.

If you’re using yoga for confidence, focus on turning your practice inward. It’s not about anyone else in the room.

4. Find a Supportive Community

One of the best parts of joining a yoga class is the community you become a part of. The people in your class have all discovered how uplifting and life-giving yoga is. You’re surrounded by people who “get it”.

Yoga teaches you to see the beauty in others as well as in yourself. In a world where our first impressions are judgmental, retraining that pattern is hard. But, consistent yoga will help you see the positive before the negative.

Even if you choose to practice yoga by yourself, the community online is strong. There are always fellow yogis happy to encourage, empower, and support you.

5. It Builds Self-Respect

Do you have trouble treating yourself well because you feel that you don’t deserve it? You’re not alone. Low-self esteem has a wicked way of preventing us from doing things that will bring joy.

Practicing yoga can be your first step to acceptance and self-love.

Your first few sessions may be basic and easy to do. You’ll likely do poses like Tree Pose, Pigeon Pose, and Warrior II. But, as you continue to practice, your skills will increase.

Seeing the growth in your practice is exciting. It proves that you can do awesome things. And, that you deserve to feel good.

Set a goal for your yoga practice. One day, you’ll be able to do a pose that you can’t right now. Working towards accomplishing it will build self-esteem and self-respect.

6. Learn Mindfulness

How many times have you tried to meditate and then given up? If you’re like most people, the answer is lots. Sometimes, we try to meditate when the results we desire can come from being mindful.

Mindfulness is the ability to be self-aware and in the present.

Low self-esteem often forces us to stay in the past. We dwell on things we’ve done wrong or how we looked at a recent social event.

Practicing yoga encourages you to also practice mindfulness. You don’t have to sit cross-legged and repeat the “om” sound. All you have to do is go through your yoga flow and focus on how each part of your body feels.

Being mindful of how you feel in the moment removes the stress you feel about the past. You are not your past; you are the present. And, in this moment, you feel great because you are great.

Interested in Learning More About Yoga for Confidence?

You don’t have to succumb to living with low self-esteem forever. Through different exercises, you can build your confidence and live a fulfilling life.

When doing yoga for confidence, focus on your own personal journey. Embrace the support you receive from the community. Remember that you deserve to feel good.

For more information on building your self-esteem and improving your confidence, check out the blog.

how to help a child with low self-esteem

How to Help a Child With Low Self-Esteem: 6 Simple Tips

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Do you hear your child saying negative things about themselves? Whether they’re crying about their intelligence, abilities, or appearances, it’s heartbreaking to see you child so upset.

We often think of low self-esteem as something that doesn’t start until the pre-teen years. However, it can happen much younger than that.

You may begin to feel helpless as you child battles their own feelings. But learning how to help a child with low self-esteem is possible.

Do you want to know more? Keep reading to discover six ways to help a child with low self-esteem.

1. Spend Some One-on-One Time with Them

Even the most confident people are bound to experience periods of low self-esteem throughout their life. Think about the last time you felt down about yourself. Did you want to vent to your best friend or spend some alone time with your partner?

A strong support system plays a huge role in helping children with low self-esteem. Spending some one-on-one time with your child is a great way to show them you’re always there to talk. It’ll strengthen your bond and give them a chance to tell you what’s wrong.

Once they learn to open up and express how they feel, it’ll be easier for you to help them overcome these emotions that are leading to low self-esteem. There are tons of great one-on-one ideas, so try to schedule regular sessions to help them.

2. Ask Questions

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you couldn’t figure out how to express your feelings? You head may have felt so jumbled that you couldn’t effectively organize your thoughts.

Imagine how hard this task would be for a child. When your child comes to you with low self-esteem, be sure to ask them questions about how they feel. Not only will it show that you care, but it will help them organize their thoughts and become better at communicating complex emotions.

Even if you think you know why they are upset, it’s important to let them reach that conclusion on their own. Allowing them to explore their feelings is a good way to build self-esteem in children. After all, how can you solve a problem if you don’t know what exactly the problem is?

3. Don’t Punish Them

Let’s say your child is crying and saying they’re stupid because they failed a test at school. You remember telling them to study for days leading up to the test, but you caught them playing games in their room instead. You may be tempted to punish them for not studying or say, “If you would have studied like I said, you would’ve done better!”

However, saying “I told you so” or punishing kids with low self-esteem won’t help anything. Instead, help them problem solve. Bring up a positive example from their past, such as saying, “remember that math test last week? You studied for 30 minutes every night and did that extra credit worksheet to prepare, and you aced it!”

Reminding them of that will help boost their confidence and reinforce positive behaviors. This paired with helping them problem solve will show that they aren’t stupid – they just made a mistake, and everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

4. Be Empathic

When you hear your child speaking poorly of themselves, your first instinct is probably to gush and rave about how amazing they are. Although compliments are a good way to build self-esteem in children, you shouldn’t rely on them to help your child feel better.

Instead, you should focus on using empathy. Expressing that you understand how they’re feeling and sharing a similar story from your past will help them connect with you and feel as though they aren’t alone.

5. Avoid Comparing Kids

Have you ever caught yourself saying things like “why can’t you keep your room clean like your sister?” It may seem like a small way to convince your child to clean their room but over time it can contribute to low self-esteem in children.

You probably won’t remember every time you say something like this, but your children will. They’ll begin to feel as though they aren’t as good as their siblings and may believe that their sibling is the “favorite” child.

Instead, you should be sure to compliment each child on their specific strengths. Not only will this help boost their self-esteem, but it’ll help them shape their own identity too.

6. Give Them Control

Does your child seem unsure of themselves every time they have to make a decision? It may be because they don’t have enough opportunities to do this in their daily life.

If you do everything for your child, they may become less confident in their abilities. Thoughts like, “I can’t do this – you do it for me” may become more common as they get older, which can lead to kids with low self-esteem.

Instead, let your child pick out their outfit for the day and let them tie their own shoes without being rushed. With time, they’ll learn to be confident in their decisions and abilities, and it will boost their self-esteem.

How to Help a Child with Low Self-Esteem

If you have a child with low self-esteem you may not know what to do. But, learning how to help a child with low self-esteem is easier than you think. Just follow our tips to help build self-esteem in children, so your kids are happier and more confident than ever.

Did you find this article helpful? Please visit our blog for more self-esteem posts like this.