The Three Things you need for a great Yoga Practice
I’m a yogi. What does that mean? Well simply put, it means that I practice yoga. What is yoga? The practice of seeking a union between body, mind and spirit. Which is a big deal and not easy. Alas, I do it in my own perfectly, imperfect way. I work on creating union within my own internal universe. I try to bring theses elements of body mind and spirit into synchronicity so that I can liberate myself from suffering and not just survive but thrive. Yikes! Sounds like a lot. Well, to be honest, it is a quite an undertaking but at the same time I don’t take it all on at once and it is a gradual process. I believe life is worth living and truly living requires a bit of work. Whether I am practicing my breathing, my poses or my mantras I have 3 rules that I try to live by and this isn’t just for my practice on the mat but also in my every day. These 3 simple rules help me to keep everything simple and right sized.
Rule 1 – Show Up! Have a plan of a place and time that you are going to practice. Know ahead of time. Don’t be vague! Knowing where and when gives you and anchor to hold you accountable. Of course coming to a class at Sonic Yoga is a great place to start and on the days you can’t come and see us make sure that you are giving yourself a bit of time too. Perhaps you will just clear your head or move around a little through some basic asana. If you know where and when you are supposed to be and you make it there, YaY! If you don’t make it there, then you know that you missed and you either reschedule or recommit to the following day. If you keep it vague there is no accountability, so then it’s too easy to skate on what you had intended to do.
Rule 2 – Stay! Have an exact time in mind of how long you are giving to your practice. Make sure to keep any distractions out of the room. You are worth your own quality time, so stay committed to yourself! If you find yourself running off either physically or mentally, bring yourself back on track OR perhaps reset your gauges and start off with a smaller time frame. Stamina is needed for physical practice as well as the mental side of things. Actually, I find my physical endurance is way better and stronger than my mental. Sometimes we get overly zealous and plan a really long practice but what we really need is to be more realistic keeping our practice more bite-sized.
Rule 3 – Do your best! This rule is a balance between tapas (discipline) and kshama (patience or forgiveness) Sometimes we set out to have the best meditation practice and we realize that our minds are not playing along. Or we set out to practice asana and our body’s feel stiff or tight. Do your best doesn’t mean that you are rocking out your practice at all times. It means that you are staying present and embodied and meeting yourself wherever you are at in that particular moment. Sometimes our practice comes easy and often times our daily practice is full of challenges and obstacles. Both are perfect, because it is what is happening. If it is happening it must be what is supposed to happen or it wouldn’t have happened that way. You get me?!?! Try not to have expectations on how you think your practice is supposed to go and celebrate the time and effort rather than the success of the efforts.
One last thing. Keep an inventory of the practices you made and even the ones that you don’t. Don’t beat yourself about it just keep track. Use it as an opportunity to make adjustments or try harder to stick you your guns!
I hope this helps you stay the course on self betterment and enlightenment. You don’t have to do anything perfectly but you do have to do it. I look forward to hearing about your practice and all your bite-sized victories.
See you on the mat!
Namaste,
Chris Temple
