The Life of a Yogi
Being
a yogi is hard. These last two weeks have been a whirlwind; in some ways it’s
hard to believe that it’s already been two weeks – and yet sometimes I think to
myself, “It’s only been two weeks?”
The
homework is a lot – probably around two to three hours of work every single day
(between the asana, the breathing, the meditation, the journaling…). Each of
the different areas of work has a certain number of “faults” built in, so that
if you miss a practice one day it’s not the end of the world. I feel like I
started at a slight disadvantage, though, because I was quite sick the first
day after the training (I felt like I had the flu for 24 hours; it was really
odd), and I had to use a fault in almost all of the practices.
Thank
goodness that didn’t last too long though! I feel like I’ve caught up for the
most part, but it’s still a big shift in my daily life. I’ve been getting up a
lot earlier to try and get all of it done before I leave the house most days,
and while that feels great once I finish
the practices and start my day, it’s difficult to motivate myself first thing
in the morning – to take that first step out of bed. It was, of course, much
easier when I had a whole community of people practicing right along with me, a
designated place to go, and Sri Dharma right there with us. But it gets easier
as time goes by, and every time I think about my fellow trainees, it’s a source
of strength and drive for my daily practice. I’ve found that dedicating my
practices to them really helps me a lot with regard to mental focus and
endurance.
I
am learning to love early-morning asana
(something I NEVER thought I would get into), and even though the seedless meditation
is hard for me, I know it’s important for me to do – maybe actually because it’s difficult. I am absolutely
loving the journaling assignments – even though I don’t always adhere strictly to
the designated topics, it’s nice to feel so in-touch with myself – to take time
out of my life twice a day every day to actively reflect.
I
think the hardest thing is that the rest of my life is also in a state of flux
right now… But then again, maybe I should be thankful that I have to do these
practices every day because they are incredibly grounding. There’s a lot to do,
and a lot for me to figure out outside of my requirements for this training,
but I am finding myself less inclined towards worrying than I used to be.
It’s not changing rapidly, but I am
noticing myself slowing down more, and being generally less hot-headed than I
used to be. All in all, I feel great so far, and even though it’s hard work, it’s
worth it. I’m looking forward to being back with my trainee group in November,
but I think we’ve all got exciting individual growth ahead of us before then.
For now, I’m off to do my evening journaling!
~Danielle
No comments:
Post a Comment