I've been rereading Light on Life by Guruji Iyengar and I love the part where he writes that yoga isn't about appearances. He uses the example of an apple, how on the outside it can look perfect and on the inside it can be completely eaten by worms. He writes that people get confused about yoga, thinking it's about how it looks outwardly rather than by what the experience is on the inside.

We've all been there. Getting hung up on what we think progress in yoga “looks like,” a flexible body or a strong body that can move in cool ways. We think yoga should look beautiful or inspiring. We think yoga will improve the look of us and our life. Yoga practitioners should radiate health, otherwise they're surely doing something wrong. 

In the book, Guruji explains that it's natural for worms to eat apples and that it's just that we don't want to be that apple! In yoga practice, we need to ask ourselves, "how am I really?" He writes that we need to ask ourselves this questions instead of obsessing on how we appear. This is what self-cultivation means, the process of organic farming of the self for the self.

When we look at soil, conditions, and the whole composition that it takes to grow a healthy plant, we start to have a new understanding of our own development. Like plants, we don't grow in a vacuum and have different needs for healthy growth. From introspection and exploration, we move toward integrating the different parts of ourselves. Guruji knew integration and wholeness, is what yoga practiioners seek:

“Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.”