Going on a Treasure Hunt
Persistent practice means there is a soulful interest to get into the creative and quiet self. It isn’t easy for most of us and for many people like myself, I take a little more time to find that sweet place.
I write this on a fine Saturday morning, where there are no sounds outside, the sky is grey and wet raindrops soak the ground; there is a quiet cold to the season that is changing into autumn. This cold feeling sneaks it’s way into the air: it isn’t like one day it is cold, and dark - it is a slow persistent cooling that smothers the summer away.
The mat is rolled out and I have finished my morning coffee. The ritual of writing before practice started this past summer, when I participated in a three-month self-guided writing course by Julia Cameron, “The Artist’s Way”. Only now if I don’t feel like writing my three morning pages, I read for thirty minutes instead and then begin to practice. This sitting and being still with my thoughts clears out the cob-webs out so that when I do get on my mat, I find myself even more willing to practice.
This day in particular is unique because it is the day after I have gone climbing with friends, so my morning practice begins a little bit creaky. My body requires my attention. I need to roll around a bit, I need to knead out the knots in my upper back and I need to caress my feet, which have been clinging like claws and are worn and tired. My hands - my digits feel like they’ve been driven over by a machine and my legs are tired from holding myself upwards. Did you know that using your legs is a huge part of climbing? I tend to the soothing and rejuvenating, and then I do some intermediate or primary series. Yes, this all happens on a Saturday because I almost always climb on a Friday evening.
Traction exercises; using belts or even a stick of a broom; pulling on some squishy bands, and hip and shoulder work begins my day. Then I move onto rolling around on spiky balls. This whole practice usually takes twenty minutes and then I am ready for some ashtanga yoga.
Have you found that as you age, yogi, you need a little more tender loving care before you begin your practice? If you don’t and you are still a raging bull ready to get into that ring of fire, consider yourself unusual. Most of us as we age need a little more time to arch ourselves into that creative and selfless upward dog. My downward dog is an invocation into my spine, my legs and my shoulders feel tenderly embraced, so I stay for ages there, forget five breaths, often I stay for ten breaths, and the same for the upward dog. The first five Sun Salutations take longer than they used to, I stretch my breath and make it long and each vinyasa is valued; time is on your side during these beginning movements.
This exploration and warming up goes hand in hand with the maturity that the meditation of the practice starts to become more important than the postures. This means that you are simply happy with each asana and the breath that accompanied it - and you are committed completely to the act of simply being there - alone - in solitude - with your quiet and beautiful self.
This to me has become more of my focus on the mat. How are my thoughts when I practice? Am I doubting myself and seeking more and wanting to be this or that and wanting to be great or prove something to someone, etc…or am I just content being with my breath and myself? The latter for sure. I want that sweet discovery of listening to my breath and watching it unfold. How glorious when time goes by swiftly and you find yourself in your upward padmasana in the closing sequence thinking of nothing but the tip of your nose and peering at your navel in total focus and care?
The practice begs our attention because it is so difficult; like rock climbing, it isn’t very forgiving. You must work at it. You must give it the attention it deserves, or you will be robbing yourself of the joys of samadhi. This bliss or place of all knowing - also called “samadhi” or absorption of the self - this is what we are seeking each and every time we step on that mat.
How you get there yogi, that is your own travel itinerary! Remember that your travels plans may or may not be the same pathway as someone else; in fact your path of yoga is always different from someone else’s! Each and every one of your practices is a personalised treasure hunt where you go searching for the gold. We all have our maps! Yet is it really the gold that us yogis want? No. It is the actual path that you are travelling upon - that you persistently have to figure out your way upon - that is the yoga! Your practice is your treasure, and it is the work that you do while on the pathway that brings you to yoga.
Practice with me this year in my upcoming day workshop here in Dublin, 11 November, 2023 from 9-5 pm where we will explore some pathways that may bring us towards yoga. Book your workshop place HERE.
