Perseverance Beats Talent

Thursday, September 10, 2020 (Part I),

So I wake up.....I go through my morning routine.....and, at a pre-determined time, I come to my yoga mat. Why?....what's the point?.....

I want to try and break the illusion that someone with a dedicated practice wakes up to singing bird, and gong chants, and green tea, and an all around Disney-ish feel to life with Bambi and Snow White. As a flawed, and imperfect practitioner, I would say that some days do feel like that, other days feel nothing like that, and other days, right in the middle. There's nothing "mystical", "magical", or incomprehensible about yoga, and the practice of yoga. It doesn't guard your mind, heart, body, soul against the world. However, when the world comes for you (with both guns blazing in the form of something ghastly and horrible from the entertainment industry/news), the discipline of yoga does provide you with clarity on how you could, and should react to the world and its sickness. On this plain, mundane, and ordinary Thursday morning, I can say that the clarity on the world that a practice provides is one of the points to yoga.

Like anything, when you "don't feel like it", a strong, and determined push to complete the task at hand, will make you feel proud, accomplished, when you've finished your task. I don't feel like it this morning (in case you can't tell), but I'm on my mat, and ready to begin....

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The Rebuild

Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Woke at my usual 4:45AM this morning for coffee and contemplation. Feeling wonderful this morning, and not terribly sore at all. There's a bit of stiffness in my back from yesterday's backbends, but that's to be expected. Ready to sweat it out on my mat. Tuesday, July 10, 2018 (Part II) I'm writing this off my mat, already showered up for my day. I love going to my mat. The physical challenge alone is reward enough, but, while I've said it many times before, the mental and spiritual adjustments that one can make are priceless. Physically, I already see a difference in my body. Arms are still re-building their stamina, but the twists and forward bends I incorporate are already helping with digestion and elimination and the general "deflating" of my body and G.I. track (TMI, I'm sure, but this is one of the main physical reasons why I practice). Mentally, I feel prepared for anything that comes my way today and fe...

Asana

Monday, March 30, 2020 After no physical practice/Asanas on Friday, and no yoga over the weekend, I notice that it's difficult to stay motivated and dedicated to my practice at times. Additionally, I ran a solo-10K this weekend (the St. Louis GO! Marathon/Half-Marthon/10K was cancelled, like most public events), and the additional tenderness in my feet, legs, etc. definitely told me not to get on my mat. Monday blues/malaise, essentially.....a "negative mind"... When I'm on my mat, feeling like it's pointless, and that the day ahead is pointless, and that the efforts I'll expend to make things better are pointless, I can go back to the foundations of my life. First, what do I live for? I live for God. That is my attempted mantra every day. It is not for me/you to understand the purpose of anything. Pulling yourself out of an equation is very liberating in that you're no longer attached to the result. It's 5:27AM as I type this, and it...

Be Silent

Tuesday, November 10, 2020 (Part I), Literal silence is seldom present. Whether in our homes, our cars, or our offices, noise, and other physical sounds, are almost always being generated from somewhere. Try a little experiment next time the opportunity arises; turn off all music, all noise making devices, and make your environment as quiet as possible. Then, close your eyes and sit for 2 minutes. You’ll, very quickly, begin to hear things you weren't noticing before. The same is true when you silence your own thoughts. You turn off the “noise” of your own brain, and you begin to notice and hear things that are always there, but that you simply didn’t notice before. To “turn down the volume” in your own head, physically imagine a hand turning down a volume dial. Then, select an object of meditation (a loved one, a religious object, or something plain and innocuous, like a pineapple), and hold that image in your mind. Within moments, your ...

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