Effort (Abhyasa) and detachment (Vairagyam)
Remaining inspired to keep a consistent practice -
the most powerful activism in a beleagured world

When we come to or practice, whether it is asana or meditation, dance, art or any of the thousands of techniques for centering, there is often a kind of yatra or pilgrimage in just getting there! A yatra involves making sacrifices in order to reach a place of purity that rewards us with an immutable vision of peace and energy that we can draw from, and we don't have to go to the Himalayas to find it (although I highly recommend it!) Obstacles surface even before we physically arrive at the space we define for inner work...a busy schedule full of commitments to people and deadlines to prove yourself to, or emotional difficulties cause us to reach out desperately for things to stabilize ourselves that can, paradoxically, distract and prevent us from being where we truly need to be, showing up consistently for whatever discipline has chosen us. Sometimes we forget about our basic self-care, the little things that count like eating regularly, keeping company with people who inspire us and uplift us, and spending time in nature. We can turn to food or drinking or numbing activities to "fill up the void" or get waylaid by worldly people and situations, then wonder where the time and energy for our practice went. Throughout all of these permutations of samsara there is a common way back to peace and a view of the world around us as full of innate wisdom and enlightened substance---we can stop where we are, take a breath, and recognize the choice we have: to continue following those habits which lead us into more confusion, or to remain still inside if even for just a moment and see what happens.

Practice irregardless of how you feel in the moment

Yoga addresses the body and mind together as indivisible and provides so many techniques for diving deeper into the Self, the center of wisdom, empathy, and love in all things that is always guiding us to respect ourselves and each other and take the right action when it is called for. Whether you do formal Yogic practices or something else, practice comes down to the pure action itself of what we do to center ourselves, be it sitting meditation, pranayama, asana, mindful walking in nature, dance, chanting, or whatever it is that we do. Showing up is the most important thing. Ironically, everything else that was hounding us up until that moment we decide to show up simply falls away. By just coming to our mat, zafu, or some quiet place of creative introspection, the energy of a consistent practice will suffuse everything that truly needs to be resolved, everything that is truly worth your attention, with clarity and purpose. The flotsam and jetsam of worries and anxieties about things which we are imagining to be real--conversations with people we have going in our heads, or things that haven't happened yet that are fraught with uncertainty--take their place in the dark, moist earth of a stable, quiet mind and rest until they can re-emerge as clear directives for us to follow when the time is right. A humorous teaching from the Buddhist tradition points out that we often treat our practice with an allopathic attitude, as if it is a source of health like a doctor to whom we go to desperately when we feel out of balance, but forget about acknowledging when we feel alright or great. Whether you "have stuff going on" or feel absolutely fine, keeping a consistent practice grows reserves of stability, mental and emotional flexibility and wisdom for the times when you need it the most, with surprising availability as the strength of your sadhana increases.

The problem of external motivations daunting regular practice are real for many in the beginning. At first it is difficult for a person to understand why and how a regular practice is so important. We come to see that the practice, even when we are doing it with someone else's well-being in mind, is really intrinsically developing along the lines of some very subtle marks that only we can discern. Practice itself has no standard of accomplishment or measurement, and is often is struggle to stay with when we are conditioned to value our time according to what we have "done" or "accomplished". Particularly in America, we have been taught to accept a standard of self-worth that is based on an idea of accumulation and attainments, certifications and standardized testing based on passing certain benchmarks in life that overlook and preclude us from experiencing the journey as it is. To practice without regard for acquiring anything, or padding our sense of self with an "accomplishment" mentality, is a real achievement along developing a sensitivity to the immeasurable qualities of Life as opposed to a standardized "quality of Life". It is painfully, obviously, not consistent however to measure the worth of our efforts by the standards that exist in our world. Despite the deceptive appearances of success in our world where people doing dishonest things receive fame, money, and privelege, people who work honestly and "by the rules" also fall to depression, frustration, and a sense of meaningless in their achievements despite their varying levels of material success. And how many people with good hearts and ethics do we all know who struggle with the basics, bearing a burden that seems undue?

The Bhagavad Gita says,

"Karmanyevadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadacana ma karmaphalaheturbhuma te sango'stvakarmani" (Chapter 2, V.47)

W e have the right to action- but not the fruits of those actions. So often when we decide to do something it is with an external result in mind, whether it is material (an assumption of the "value" of what we are doing, and thus relative "value" of what others do); or psychological in the form of some acknowledgment. We feel good about ourselves when we do something to grow our spiritual awareness through practice, and sometimes beat ourselves up if the motivation isn't there to arrive. Further, we fall into rebellion and despair as we come to let the negative attitudes overwhelm our ability to detach from the obstacles and let them literally get the best of us. By simply showing up no matter what, we can arrive with greater compassion for ourselves in the process, and relax the grip of the Ego.

It is no surprise and nothing short of a miracle whose time has come that Yoga has arrived en masse to the mainstream, globally, to heal and guide, because Yoga is concerned not with what we "believe" but with what we understand about ourselves and our relative place in existence. This begins with self-awareness.

So practice continues. The portrayal of the Universe as Perfectly imperfect, Justly unjust, so far as the limited human consciousness of ethics goes, is because we have established our self-interest first and have become geared towards believing in what we see with our eyes, rather than feeling what there is in our hearts, which is where the real riches of existence lie in plain view for us all the time! Keeping a simple regular practice can clear our eyes and give the heart's view a way to surface. Keep dedicating it, wherever you are or whatever you happen to be doing--we are always influencing something far greater than our individual selves, whether you think along the lines of generational healing in each habit we transcend, or the inroads to tolerance we find in better communication with each other through surviving painful misunderstandings. Dedicate whatever joy that comes or success you experience for the upliftment of the whole, without looking back at whether you believe it will really make a difference. In this the great teachings tell us to take secret delight and Joy, and to keep looking with humble eyes for the Beloved in everything.