First, let me talk a bit about the difference between pain and suffering: Pain is part of life. Suffering is optional. Suffering is the story behind our pain, the things we tell ourselves "I'll always be like this, I'll never. . . or I should not have. . .or he or she shouldn't have. . ." Nothing wrong with pain and suffering being the motivation that brings us to practice in the first place, but since yoga is very effective, and most likely WILL result in a lessening of our suffering, do we then stop practicing? I was struck last week, talking to a student who had done the yoga challenge a few years ago. Her challenge was to practice legs-up-the-wall every day. How did it go? Oh, it felt wonderful! she reported. Great! Was she still doing it? No. Here's an idea that might seem a bit odd at first: We get attached to our suffering. If we commit to a daily practice, life might get easier. . .though not always at first, and not always directly.
So, what is the difference between a New Year's resolution and a yoga sadhana, or practice? Intention for one thing. In the West we often approach things involving the body with a hidden or not-so-hidden agenda to fix or improve ourselves. We want to get in shape, have thinner thighs, stronger arms, or whatever. And we want it to happen in a certain time frame. The first yoga workshop I attended, in 1988, I came with the typical impatience of a beginner (I had been doing yoga for about 3 years at that point.) I wanted, in the matter of 4 or 5 days, to master full arm balance, revolved triangle, and to push up into a full backbend. Well, it took 2 more years before I kicked up on my own into full arm balance. I still haven't mastered the other 2 poses. So why do I practice? Because yoga truly has been for me the royal path of transformation, on all levels. Ever hear the idea of "non-attachment to results"? It's a key concept with yoga, and what makes yoga something other than merely a novel way to exercise. Also, there is the concept of grace. We do the practice, or practices. We need to put in the effort. But then Something meets us and takes us to places we had never dreamed of going to before. . .
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