That's Why it's Called Practice
If you're newer to Yoga, you might notice that sessions or classes are often referred to as "practice" -- we speak of "practicing Yoga,' "doing my practice," "I practiced with so-and-so," etc. There's a good reason for this. Yoga works with our bodies, minds and souls to restore our sense of unity, both within and without ourselves. One of the primary obstacles to this sense of unity are the "samskaras" under which we each operate. Samskaras are habitual patterns of thinking, relating and behaving -- traditional Yoga says we even bring our samskaras in from past lives. Whether or not you're a believer in the residue of past lives, if you've had any life experience at all, you probably know that certain samskaras run deep. Have you ever had trouble with dieting, quitting smoking, changing your mental attitude, relating differently with family members? That's right -- it takes practice.
Not only does it take practice, but once you've "got it," you can lose it! In other words, for most of us, our struggles continue to be our struggles. We keep working on ourselves and must remain diligent in our self-awareness. Recently it's been tough for me -- I've been watching my attitude slip, my weight rise, my old habits gaining some new momentum. The samskaras (in this case, family stuff) have been reasserting themselves. Sometimes it's like an archaeological dig -- you dig for a while, clear some layers of rock and sediment, take a rest, breathe freely, marvel at some of your findings -- and then there's the next layer. And so, my challenge is to return to the practice, realizing once again that while I may never be completely free of some of this residue (though always hoping that someday I might be), I have the tools with which to keep digging until the diamond underneath can again shine through.
