Compassion, Starting with Yourself

by Juan Villegas, E-RYT® 500

How to Be a More Compassionate Human

There is great importance in creating compassion for yourself so you can spread that care to others. I find it interesting on flights when during the emergency protocol announcement the flight attendants stress that you need to put your own mask on first before helping anyone with theirs.

This used to be difficult for me to understand. I thought that if I were a parent I would put the mask on my child first. Now I understand the reason, how can you help others put on a mask if you are struggling for oxygen yourself? If you are a compassionate person who wants to help others, as we are as yoga teachers, it’s possible to do too much for others before we consider applying that compassion to ourselves.