“To practice or not to practice?” That’s NOT the question!

Practice is not a daily decision to decide upon.

“Do I wanna do practice this morning or not? Ugggg. I have no energy. I am sniffly. I am this… and I am that. I think I will go back to sleep in my nice warm bed. Its cold outside. And dark. I am going to do self-care today. That is my yoga.” We human beings have an infinite capacity to fool ourselves.

Someone remarked that I must be “very disciplined” to reach 1000 broadcasts. For me, the word discipline is about effort and willfulness. Indeed, strong effort is needed to begin any practice and get it going. Usually the 90 day mark, is when a new practice can turn into a lifestyle habit. But even after 90 days, many people lose their “discipline” because they think the whole idea is to be hard on oneself. That mindset is coming from the wrong place.

Indeed there is a hump to get over. But once you get over the first few hurdles and a bump or two, showing up for yourself gets easier. Eventually, any sustained practice must find its source in love, and joy, and a zest for living.

If I keep doing what I am doing,

I am going to wind up where I am headed!

Yes indeed! We become what we do. Once you truly understand the power of this rhythmic alternation of the hemispheres of the brain, at the moment of inspiration, then you make a commitment to yourself. “This is what I am practicing!”

Once you get the vision clearly in your mind, make the commitment to yourself.

Living Commitment eliminates making a choice. I live the commitment of showing up no matter what. It doesn’t matter if it feels good, if my body is sore, or what my mind may think, I practice anyway. And some days, practice is ragged, it doesn’t look glamorous or perfect, but I live the commitment. I show up for the breath, to investigate life, every morning. That shift alone is transforming. After practice, I am always glad that I didn’t listen to the comforting squirrelly thoughts that would take me away from here and now. I want to go, where this goes, being in the here and now.

Vision

I had the advantage of the ashram years, where I was with a group of focused yogis who got up everyday and did this practice. “Community is stronger than willpower,” they say. From a few years of uninterrupted sustained practice, I realized Anuloma Viloma’s supreme importance to the yoga tradition.

Gitanand and the author arriving in Mumbai, India in 1994

In 1994, I had the good fortune of living with Gitanand Grey Ward as his roommate for just under 4 months while we studied at the Lakulish Institute in Kayavarohan, India. Gitanand, a largely unrecognized yogi of very high caliber, was a tenured MIT physicist whose yoga practice was centered on anuloma viloma (Left Right Breath.) Living with him as he practiced his daily “mahurta” (48 minutes) was deeply inspiring. It planted the seed. I still see the vision of him sitting in our room motionless as his breath rate dropped below one breath per minute. A peaceful stillness permeated the room. The practice was effortless for him. There was no struggle or discipline at all. No doubt, early in his yoga life, he had his battles with himself. But those battles were over and the place he arrived at was electric and palpable. Everyday.

In Gitanand, I saw a living example of anuloma viloma realized and he would animatedly describe how the next stages of yoga, dharana, dhyana and samadhi, open up quite naturally and fairly quickly, once the pranayama is in place. I frequently offer Gitanand, who has now passed away, my thanks and gratitude.

Anuloma viloma has the potential to make an ordinary person’s life something extraordinary. I hope to provide inspiration and be a living example of this practice and thereby help others. There is a concentrated group of us now. If you want to start this practice, you have online friends to help you along the way. If you started this practice and stopped, begin again. Begin your practice today. You don’t have to be special; you just have to keep showing up.