Gabriel
User
Nov 28, 2001, 11:05 PM
Post #2 of 3
(325 views)
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Scott
I'm glad you've brought this up as it's something that I've been thinking a lot about for the last few months and I'll be very interested in other replies to this question. I too have been an intermittent practicioner for more than ten years.
It seems to me that sustainably and consistently integrating yoga into your life if you are not a teacher or a trainee teacher is very difficult to get guidance on because teachers & trainees have an external motivation "normal" students don't have.
My own take on the matter has grown out of reading web sites about other forms of exercise that have a meditative aspect, and the conclusion I've come to is that all activities with a major physical component require us to deal with ups and downs in focus, with corresponding regression in ability. The feeling of having to "start again" makes it particularly disheartening. So I am now trying to develop an attitude to my practice that actively tries to focus only on the fact of doing the poses, and trying to stop myself making a comparison with my own previous poses. This has meant (so far!) that if I have to work flat out for 3 weeks, it's much easier to come back, because I'm less hard on myself.
Since redefining my concept of good practice from "how many hours did I spend" or "how good is my dog pose compared to last year" to "how intensely am I concentrated when I practice", it's really allowed me to find continuity despite my inconsistency, and parts of the Iyengars' writings on not striving to progress so much have made a lot more sense. Hope this is of interest, and I hope to hear from you lurkers out there on this topic.
Gabriel
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