Yoga mindset applied to Life · Frugal and Fabulous

Yoga mindset applied to Life

Good morning Lovelies,

Happy Sunday!

Today I wanted to share a thought that was put to me by a YouTube yoga teacher I follow. Her name is Charlie Follows. I highly recommend you checking her out. She is fabulous. Here are her thoughts on “steady wins the race” type of mindset.

“Have you ever noticed how much urgency sneaks into the way we approach progress?

We tell ourselves:“If I can just get there quicker…”“If I work harder, push more, I’ll be ahead…”

It sounds logical. But in my experience, speed rarely delivers the results we think it will.

Here’s the part that feels almost backwards:The students who move fastest aren’t the ones who try to rush. They’re the ones who slow down.

Let me explain.

A while ago, one of my students—let’s call her Emma—was determined to learn handstand in record time. Every practice, she went straight for the full pose: kicking up hard, falling back down, then trying again. Some days she’d spend 30 minutes just repeating the same kick-up, breathless and frustrated, convinced that sheer effort would tip her into balance.

At first, she felt progress. Her legs floated a little lighter, she almost held for a second or two. But soon her wrists started aching from the impact, her shoulders carried a constant dull tightness, and her mind turned restless. The joy that had sparked her practice started to slip away.

By week four, she wasn’t building confidence anymore - she was second-guessing whether she’d ever get there.

Contrast that with another student, Maya, who approached her handstand differently. Instead of chasing the full pose every time, she broke it down into pieces. Some days she’d just practice shifting weight into her hands in downward dog, noticing how her palms gripped the mat. Other days she’d spend a few minutes in a wall-assisted tuck, paying attention to how her core engaged when she drew her knees in.

Her sessions were short—five, maybe ten minutes—but deliberate. She gave herself permission to stop before fatigue set in, to let her body absorb the work instead of grinding past the point of focus.

At first it didn’t look like much was happening. No dramatic “Instagram-worthy” moments. But week by week, she noticed small changes: wrists that felt steadier, shoulders that didn’t burn out so quickly, a flicker of balance when her hips stacked for just a heartbeat.

And then one day, almost without realising it, Maya kicked up and hovered—calm, steady, surprised at how natural it felt.

The shortcut wasn’t rushing.The shortcut was patience.

Because patience keeps you showing up after the excitement fades. Patience lets your body (and your nervous system) actually integrate the work. Patience stops you from burning out before you even arrive.

Here’s the truth:

Speed creates stress.

Patience creates staying power.

And staying power is what gets you into a handstand (insert your goal here) you can actually hold.”

In Love include me,

Anna

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