Curiosity Over Judgement

When we are curious, we cannot be judgmental.

This is a concept we explored in depth in my 300-hour yoga teacher training a few years ago. It is something that I have continued to explore and share in my yoga classes. In general, people are very judgmental, especially when it comes to their bodies. In class one may think “I’m terrible at this pose” “I can’t do this” “This is too hard.” Our inner monologues can be pretty mean. But if we focus on curiosity – asking “what am I experiencing right now” or “how do I feel about this,” it shifts that inner monologue. We become curious and observant rather than judgmental and limiting.

How freeing to approach our bodies and our lives from a place of curiosity rather than judgement. It even shifts the perspective from one of “this is bad” or “I shouldn’t be like this/feel this” to “What is making me feel this way?” or “How interesting that my leg doesn’t go further than this.”

It helps to cultivate the impartial observer that yoga teaches us to be. To notice things without becoming attached to them or judging them. Can we notice our thoughts with a curiosity of what is going on in our inner monologue rather than getting bogged down in what we are thinking and go into circular thinking or panic. And if we happen to descend into circular thinking or panic, cultivating that observer to notice what brough us there so we can work to bring ourselves out. And it is constant work – a practice that we must hold for a lifetime. With more practice it gets easier to observe with curiosity, but we are humans living messy lives and we will always spiral into something.

This is your invitation to get curious. To notice. Perhaps to deepen your yoga or meditation practice to cultivate this noticing.