Are there life lessons from Yogi Flight School that we can take away from the classes and apply to our lives beyond the mat?
Yes, yoga teaches us about acceptance, balance, self-awareness, patience, gratitude, self-love and more.
But does Yogi Flight School teach us other life lessons too?
Yes sureee, it does.
It seems to me like there’s nowhere else where it’s so easy to see that we all have a unique relationship with our yoga, a relationship which grows and unfolds as we progress (just like life).
It’s often the subtleties of yoga that can transform us the most.
And Nathania Stambouli of Yogi Flight School has a way of pointing out those moments and highlighting a thought just when we most need to hear it.
When I enrolled in Yogi Flight School, I wasn’t sure what to expect other than some tuition for mastering arm balances and inversions.
I wasn’t even driven to master fancy poses like Pincha, crocodile or one-legged-crow. But what I did want was growth, progress and inspiration.
And oh joy, am I getting them!
In fact, I’m so thrilled with the course that I wrote an in-depth review of Yogi Flight School to help you if you might be wondering what it’s like on the inside.
This post contains affiliate links because I LOVE this course so much, so of course it’s a vibe I want to share. If you click and subsequently buy the course, I may receive a small commission – but at no extra cost to you!
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But before we have a look at those 7 life lessons, a quick look at where we are starting out from and how to apply the lessons to our lives.
Our minds are conditioned to act and think in particular ways. Each one of us has different subconscious limiting beliefs.
We may be aware of some of our conditionings, but it isn’t possible for us to know about of all of our restricting, limiting and reactive programming.
Sometimes it takes something out-of-the-ordinary to shine a spotlight on us and shake things up a bit, illuminating how we react or respond to the barrage of hurdles we meet within our own lives.
So one part of looking at our life lessons is to also recognise our programmed response and always strive to upgrade our internal software.
How Can We Apply Yoga Lessons to Our Lives?
When we can observe our own actions and reactions on the yoga mat, we can be quite sure that we also show up in the same way off the yoga mat.
In Yogi Flight School, Nathania Stambouli teaches a positive approach to our achievements both on and off the mat. She reminds us of the essentials of success and that we are always winning.
As long as we show up for ourselves and we do our bit, we’re doing fine.
Let ourselves be wherever we are; let ourselves appreciate and enjoy where we’re at, and let tomorrow take us to wherever it takes us.
Today we are here, right where we are meant to be.
So now I’d like to share with you 7 super-powerful life lessons I’ve learned in Yogi Flight School.
You may not know the answer unless you’ve spent some time analysing yourself or looking back retrospectively at the hurdles you’ve faced in life and how you responded to them.
Normally we have (what we think are very good) reasons for giving up, you know, like it was just too difficult, or I was too old or I didn’t have enough time.
Hmm sure, whatever.
Most of us have areas in life where we quit too easily and other areas where we persevere more.
For me, I was always great at staying positive in challenging situations which landed upon me, but pretty weak when it came to believing in myself and pushing myself further.
It was as though I felt egoistic to put myself forward.
So I would avoid doing something altogether. Much less risk of criticism, failure, disappointment or ridicule that way.
Tip: if you have an inner voice telling you you’re too young/old/fat/thin/short/tall/weak/strong, then you can be sure that there’s a window of opportunity for you to focus on transforming into somebody who doesn’t give up quite so soon.
When we’re on the yoga mat and we see someone teaching us a (much too) tricky pose, what’s our first reaction? Is it, to think, oh that’s too advanced for me? (confession – hands up.)
Imagine this: you’re looking for a yoga class to do, but just as you find one there’s a negative voice in your head telling you it’s difficult.
Your immediate programmed response is to reject the class and move on.
Or maybe you start watching a class but the teacher’s voice is super high and squeaky so you immediately switch it off and look for another one.
It isn’t so much about whether you look for another video or not, but more about whether it’s your automatically programmed response.
Sometimes it takes someone else next to us to see it through different eyes and say something positive to jolt us back to earth and help us to recognise our negative programming.
For me personally, I was faced with this repeatedly as I challenged what I thought I could and couldn’t attempt.
‘Can’t do that, so I’ll wait it out.‘
No!
Instead of saying this negative inner mantra, change it to ‘Let’s see what I’m capable of when I try!’
This is what I wrote in my diary after one particular YFS session:
‘I notice that I greet new suggestions with immediate rejection and negativity. Then, after a while, I’ll start to work it out and accept it.’
This is true off the mat for me. Sceptical.
Do you recognise this in yourself?
#3 I’m Not (Whatever) Enough
Who hasn’t played this through their mind at some point?
The question isn’t so much whether we’ve been influenced by this kind of thinking as much as what is our personal criticism which we use to limit ourselves in various situations.
I came to YFS with these subconscious beliefs:
I’m too weak
I’m too old
I’m too fat
I’m not flexible enough
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think this consciously. I didn’t realise I had this program running in the background.
We are all moving forward and we all have our unique starting points.
And we’ll never reach the destination (because the horizon will keep moving) so we may as well appreciate the journey!
#4 Negative Stories
Drop the story!
So you can’t touch your toes? That’s just your body letting you know where it’s at today. No story attached.
It just IS.
See your stories for exactly what they are – stories created by our minds and our ego.
It goes without saying that I caught myself making up stories on the mat and then I reflected on how this would come into play in my life off the mat.
Not enough likes? I’m not good enough.
Not enough clicks? Nobody likes me.
Not enough shares? I’m useless.
Let’s drop the Stories already!!!
#5 It’s Not About the Destination
Yoga makes it so clear!
Every step of the way is valuable and when you’re immersed in a course with hundreds of other yogis, all at their own point in their own journey, you really realise this.
It isn’t about where you going to get, it’s about how you’re getting there. How you turn up on your mat is how you turn up in your life.
And once we recognise a few truths in ourselves, then we can ask ourselves how we truly show up when we’re off the mat.
Do we make the most of every moment?
It’s not what we do that counts, it’s how we do it. Be mindful of life in the present moment.
#6 Empty the Cup
Whenever we catch ourselves thinking we already know something, that’s exactly when we should stop in our tracks and discover what more we can learn about it.
On the mat, during the YFS course, we revisit the poses time and again.
If we come to the mat with an open mind, we’ll always learn something new.
Even if it’s something we think we’ve already done.
We need to empty the cup and make space for more. Otherwise, we won’t really absorb what’s on offer around us.
So, have you ever thought, ‘I know that‘?
I’ve found myself thinking that on occasion (off the mat I mean). But the truth is, knowing something doesn’t mean we know all of it.
Hearing something doesn’t mean we retain it.
And recognising something isn’t the same as living it.
Be hungry to learn more. Be child-like. That’s what yoga shows us.
#7 Be Dedicated to the practice Not to the Results
The practice brings us the results. Focussing purely on the results sacrifices the practice.
We can go so much further if we remind ourselves of this in our daily life.
Be what we want to be in every moment of every day (as much as we can) and we will see our life unfolding before us in the direction we truly want to go.
Final Thoughts on Life Lessons from Yogi Flight School
So there you have it, my 7 life lessons which I’ve absorbed from being present in Yogi Flight School so far, with many more to come, I’m sure.
Shared here with a great big thank you to all the coaches at YFS and especially to Nathania.
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