Practice

My regular yoga practice fell apart over the last two weeks.  I awoke before dawn today to attend a class.  My body simultaneously let me know that I had slacked in my daily practice and welcomed the movements.  I like that yoga sessions are called practice.  Saying, “I’m going to practice,” leaves room for feeling on the way to something and offers little expectation of achievements.  I think we should view more of our endeavors as practice.

Today’s definition comes from the dictionary installed on my computer and offers the following for the verb practice.
1.  perform an activity or exercise a skill repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain one’s proficiency
2.  carry out or perform a particular activity, method, or custom habitually or regularly
3.  actively pursue or be engaged in a particular profession or occupation

Life offers many opportunities for improvement. Just as I can train my back muscles to engage and strengthen in salabhasana (locust pose) I can train my mouth to utter kind words instead of harsh ones.  If I repeatedly force myself to be patient, even if at first merely an external action, the more I perform tolerance the more improvement I find in my patience proficiency. 

When we attempt actions that seem hard it can be a sign we need practice.  Only in repeated, regular practice can we maintain adeptness.  If we don’t practice kindness, generosity, honesty, rest, perseverance, temperance perhaps we lose those habits and our skill at them.  Intentional activity makes habits.  Inattention can also make habits.

We must nourish ourselves to have the energy to practice.  Practice requires moments of rest.  It does not require looking around to see how we are doing compared to others.  We can learn from others when appropriate, certainly, but don’t need to rank.  Honor injuries.  Honor fatigue.  Honor natural strengths and weaknesses.  Honor the body you are in.  Honor the circumstances of your life.  Practice what is good for you and others and watch the collective goodness scale tip toward a positive direction. 

Exercise

again
be space
open to love and freedom
camel lowering to knobby, kneeling, knowing knees

again
be air
flow joy and excitement
touch a half-moon breeze with fingers free from fists

again
be fire
burn to understand and recognize
sight restored in kapalabhati’s heat heaving obstructions

again
be water
stream content and compassionate
horizontal in the comfortable corpse that fears not death

again
be earth
offer strength and forgiveness
visionary warrior steady standing heaven-reaching heart

attain or maintain what repeatedly moves
through practice become your Self, Truth.