Practice

Reading from yoga class Tuesday, November 8, 2011


"Deciding to build a temple of the body is not a decision to simply make your body healthier, although in the process you might get healthier.  Building a temple of the body is not a diet, although in the process you might change your eating habits.  Building a temple of the body is not a program of self improvement, a set of precise instructions, a promise of happiness or a guarantee that you will get stronger, thinner or more attractive.  Building a temple of the body is, in fact, a call to a life of spiritual practice.

Practice usually means doing asana-- but practice can also include, but is not limited to--the things we eat and the things we do not eat; the way we talk to ourselves and the way we talk to others; the way we manage our minds as well as our behavior; the way we breathe; the way we conduct ourselves in relationships of all kinds; and the remembering of the reason behind our various choices.  Practice encompasses learning from our mistakes, as well as our response to our failures and shortcomings along the way.

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali there are 3 criteria for something to be considered a practice:
                        1.  The action must be done constantly without interruption
                        2.  The action must be done over a long period of time
                        3.  The action must be done with reverence

Think about it--we do lots of things repeatedly over long periods of time--take brushing your teeth, the first two criteria are met, but not the third.  There is no reverence or devotion to brushing your teeth.  But we could make it reverent and devotional by recognizing that it is a gift to have teeth, and keeping them clean is an act of gratitude for the gift we have been given.  So the devotion in the simple act of brushing our teeth becomes a practice. 

So...building a temple of the body requires more of us than simply committing a few hours a week to practicing asana, no matter how great the asana or how much we love it--building a temple of the body will require that we build a LIFE OF PRACTICE. 

Transformation comes from constant practice over a long period of time--building a life off the mat that is integrated with the life we have on the mat. 

The word abhyasa is the Sanskrit term for practice.  So what practice really is--the repetitous and intense process of facing our goal--we will meet challenges and obstacles along the way--if we didn't we would be talking about recreation, not practice. 

So--why is it so hard to establish a personal asana practice?  Most of the people who have this problem are not beginners--these are experienced students who love to practice, who come to class regularly, and are proficient.  For most people motivation is not the problem.  2 reasons:  The first reason is having unrealistic expectations.  Expecting it to be easier to practice at home, than it actually is.  There are distractions, carving out the time, putting off the chores and the progress is slow... it might take 20 years to reach your goal.  The second reason is that many people fail to see practice as a loving act and to see themselves as worthy of such love.  The longer I practice yoga, the more obvious it becomes to me that what sustains me in practice, and what has helped  me implement any positive change over time, is love.  Instead of practice being a set of rules of how we are expected to be the perfect yogi, practice becomes a set of attitudes and actions.

From the book "My Body is a Temple: Yoga as a Path to Wholeness"  by Christina Sell

Yoga takes a long time, but anything worthwhile takes a long time.