Discipline is a cornerstone of yoga, and an important tool for self-care, self-awareness, and self-fulfillment. I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work for me.
What doesn’t work: Grandiose expectations. Fixating on outcomes and results. Negative self-talk, self-judgement, and comparing myself to others.
What does work: Focusing on choices in this moment.
Discipline can only be executed one moment at a time. It’s easy for me to commit to one moment. This moment offers an opportunity to try, with no further burden, plan, or commitment for the next one.
After contending with gravity all day, the last thing I feel like doing after work is an hour of yoga (or taking a walk, or anything else that doesn’t involve staring at a screen on a comfy, cushioned piece of furniture). But I don’t want to spend the entire evening staring at a screen. I feel disgruntled when I default my life to the screen.
There is a far more interesting and beneficial “screen” within us, which reflects how we want to live and gives us the tools to live our inspiration.
So I commit myself to one action in one moment, with the option of quitting in any future moments, like so:
~Change clothes, one article at a time. Easy, even if I’m filled with resistance, reluctance, and dread at times.
~Flop the mat out. Ditto.
~Step onto the mat. Ditto.
~Try a pose. Ditto. Practice non-resistance, non-judgement, self-kindness, patience. Allow myself to be there, observing all the interesting places my mind and emotions traipse off to. Return to the body, continually scanning the pose for safety, support, and expansion. Return to the mat. Return to myself. One moment at a time.
Sometimes I barely make it through, and the resistance is hard to shake. Sometimes the practice goes in a different direction, as wisdom guides and I respond. And sometimes the practice feels magical. I always feel great satisfaction when finished. And I've never, not once, regretted trying.
It is wisely said that freedom comes through discipline. Free will can only be experienced through discipline, since we are otherwise enslaved to our bad habits, addictions, and default maneuvers.
Exerting discipline develops self-awareness and self-mastery. One moment at a time.
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