Getting my practice back

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Very often in yoga literature I have come across the idea that sleep becomes less necessary the more a person’s prana or vibration increases. I am summarizing. One statement I remember coming from an old realized woman was, “Sleep is for pigs.” I can quite appreciate her sentiment.

I am a pig. I struggle to wake up early for practice. By evening after putting the kids to bed I have trouble motivating myself to practice or study.

My children have interjected a lull into my personal practice. I have been trying to recover for years now. (4 years, 10 months to be precise) What my children have done for me is to begin to train me out of many habitual, residual reactions that do not serve the path. I am grateful for them.

But how to get my practice back? What I have lost in prana has been gained in other areas such as unconditional love and functioning on no yoga practice at all!

Early in my personal practice I struggled with self-discipline. It then became a way of life. Now saddled with the life of a householder it is time to unearth the discipline again.

Anyone?

#2

Yoga practice alive and well. Asana practice dormant.

Depending of course on the way(s) in which you interrelate with the life choices and subsequent responsibilities you have accepted, you seem to be doing quite a lot of yoga to me.

You merely want a lousy old asana practice that is barely even mentioned in the Sutras? How interesting. Many moving their bodies are longing for something deeper. You’ve got a potential “something deeper” and you want to do sun salutations. Human beings, what to make of them?

Yes this is all a bit tongue in cheek I suppose.
Your point is you want to do an asana practice and you are stuck in a layer of not being able to do it. If it is prana you’ve lost then do five minutes of pranayama when the kids go to bed. Not 50 minutes. Just five minutes. So what. It’s your practice annd it’s in integrity with “householding”.

You have the discipline just not the one you want. You have the discipline (I hope) of showing up in the lives of your children every day. At least that is how it sounds to me.

If there is an energy issue as well (not able to get up) then one would examine diet and lifestyle. Obviously you cannot dispense with obligations but you can limit sketchy foods and devices in your surroundings. Less tv, computers, cell phones, microwaves and no refined sugars, caffeine, alcohol etcetera. Yet another discpline if you so choose to see it that way.

“Practice” takes on many forms.

#3

Take your kids and partner to a yoga class. If you give them a lot, perhaps they could at least do this ? :slight_smile:

#4

Thanks for the replies.

Doing yoga with my children is something I need to work on. It doesn’t come easy to me for some reason. I will try. I am a yoga teacher so one would think this would be OBVIOUS!

I would agree that my children are my practice since I spend most of the day with them. Knowing how a good yoga practice in the morning makes everything in one’s day go better, I’ve wanted to add that smoothness to my life. Everyday yoga practice also makes it easier to get a little space between me and the issues that come up.

But I am doing ok. Bringing the issue to the forefront of one’s mind, by writing in this case, will help it be addressed.

thanks again, Daya

#5

Just go for it daya ! You have everything you need to do that. :slight_smile: