Dedicated to Leading the Cheer

As some of you may know, I have a background in cheerleading and while this certainly has impacted my yoga practice both body-awareness and flexibility-wise, cheerleading is what got me to yoga and reflecting back helped form my attitude and interactions early on.

 In reality, getting out of cheerleading is what actually got me in to yoga. During my Sophomore season in college I started to learn that cheerleading wasn’t for me. In part due to a traumatic nose fracture, but mostly due to the fact that it had turned too competitive—I wasn’t in it to be part of the best cheerleading squad, I was in it to lead the cheer! So as I recovered from my injury, I turned to yoga as a way to engage my body, without the desire to perform, compare, or compete.

Looking back to my early cheerleading days, one of the  things I’ve kept with me was part of my High School Code of Conduct which stated that, “we are here to cheer FOR our teams, not AGAINST anyone else.”

And while this may have been a cheesy way to remind high school kids that bad sportsmanship was not allowed, it totally stuck with me. This sentiment impacts how I respond to others now. What’s the point in tearing down, when instead you can be building up? And not only that, when you function from a space of encouragement and support that in turn breeds the same. So rather than putting down or pushing back, for the most part, I choose to be a cheerleader, and I encourage you to do the same when you can.

 Cheer on, Namaste :)