How being a yoga instructor has helped me understand myself as an INFJ.
When I was in college, I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test for the first time. After taking it, my type turned out to be the mysterious INFJ. This, at first, didn’t seem to phase me; however, as I begin to expand on my own hero’s journey, I have been finding there is a growing need to understand this rare personality type to help me be in the world in an aligned and deeply grounded way.
But first, what does being an INFJ suggest?
According to 16personalities.com, an INFJ is:
“An Advocate (INFJ) who is someone with the Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging personality traits. They tend to approach life with deep thoughtfulness and imagination. Their inner vision, personal values, and a quiet, principled version of humanism guide them in all things.”
After taking the test, there are tabs that also help the curious seeker find answers about preferred careers, the strengths and weaknesses, relationship compatibility, and habits of each type. I let the information percolate in my mind for a few months before I decided to do anything with it.
Actually on second thought, make that years.
It’s now about three years after I first took the test, and I am at a place right now where my mid-20’s are really encouraging me to dig deep into my identity. I feel that this information is extremely valuable right now because I have been hearing little whispers from my soul to shed layers and look underneath the shell of my comfort zone and really get to know the person observing this show.
Over the last few years, I have internalized a few qualities of the INFJ type from what I could remember, which included favoring the introverted, intuitive world more-so than the extroverted sensing world. I have recently found there to be a great deal of tension between my introverted intuition and my ability to extrovert my feelings in reality with other people. Actually, a reason I am writing this is because I’ve needed a way to break out of the Ni-Ti loop that I’ve come to know INFJ’s find themselves in. More on this loop in a moment.
James Frank, an incredible YouTuber, helped explain this “Ni-Ti loop” that us INFJ’s can stay in for too long due to our natural proclivity towards imagining a world inside of our minds and thinking about our intuitive feelings, since this is ultimately how we perceive the world. The Ni component describes an INFJ’s dominant cognitive function, which is the introverted intuition, which allows us to be able to see patterns and how ideas connect together from different knowledge sources that are already built up in our mind. The Ti component describes the introverted thinking function of the INFJ, which is a tertiary function, suggesting that this is not as developed as the first mentioned. Frank described in a video on YouTube how the Ni-Ti processing loop works, and I learned that I have a tendency to get caught up in this, as the Ni and Ti function feed each other and can keep a person quite disconnected from reality. Ultimately, this leads thoughts to just spiral instead of being extroverted and spoken to another person. Maybe as an INFJ, you’ve experienced this too… I won’t go into the loop any more here, but I do suggest watching the video in the link provided as it is incredibly helpful in teaching an INFJ how to break out of it. (*Hint: writing helps, A LOT.)
Now, how has teaching yoga helped me relate more to the mind of an INFJ?
I’ve been an active yoga instructor for over a year now; however, I have had a personal practice for over ten years. Currently, I am enrolled in a Yoga Therapy program through Maryland University of Integrative Health, and it has opened my mind to a whole new realm of the mind and language on how to describe mental fluctuations.
Recently, I’ve learned what the Ni-Ti loop is, as I explained above, and an important way to break it is to extrovert the thoughts that are circulating in the mind. This could be through writing in a journal and then reading the entry you just wrote or speaking to a person and hearing your thoughts from an objective point of view. I’m beginning to understand (notice how my logical reasoning is starting to kick in; this is the introverted thinking function) that the reason it feels so organic to teach yoga at this stage of life is because it allows me a space to extrovert my thinking and what I am sensing in my body to the students I am teaching.
I’ve noticed an incredible warmth envelope my being after I teach a class because it feels as though I am aligned to a higher purpose. In yoga, we would call this dharma. I feel as an INFJ and from what I’ve researched on the type, that it’s imperative for an INFJ to have a career in which is aligned to their core personal values.
Teaching yoga in studios has allowed me to be able to see my work and capacity to relate to the world mirrored back at me through the duration of each class, as I can physically and energetically relate to each student in the room. While it’s been important to cultivate my own practice, I feel it’s been incredibly actualizing to teach yoga because I can be seen sharing a part of me and my work that I find so intimate. It keeps me from staying inside my head, and instead allows me to serve what I know outward. I suspect this is why INFJ’s also flourish in research oriented positions as they can share and write about what they’ve discovered. INFJ’s are naturally seekers and curious about many topics!
Nonetheless, with the knowledge I am learning through yoga therapy, I imagine that the interweaving of asanas, meditation, breath work, mudras, the yamas and niyamas, and that unique and beautiful compassionate relationship with each client that I’ll be able to really feel the gift of the INFJ mind pulling all these components together to relate to the person in front of me.
Therefore, instead of feeling misunderstood with a personality geared towards that which cannot be seen, I am choosing now to change the relationship with my gifts and learn to share them more in a fully embodied way with the environment around me through yoga. I no longer yearn to be someone special, for I know I am because I have divine wisdom in my heart and soul that will guide me, as long as I extrovert it and share it with someone! May we walk forward into the unknown with grace for ourselves as introverts and be willing to share our ideas and visions, for the world needs more of us to express what’s inside.
