Year Two Assignment – Leave off one habit
Laura, Ashland Jivana Group
“A person with a supportive lifestyle can do various activities throughout the day and develop harmony with the body’s natural rhythms and cycles. … such a lifestyle will fully support a person’s ability to meditate.” ~ Acharya, The Sacred Tradition of Yoga
Over the course of the month, I took an intention to be more tethered to the ideal lifestyle as it relates to the rhythm of my sitting practice, food intake, sleep, work and duties.
At times, outside duties and responsibilities of my modern family life prevented this ideal rhythm, other times the natural rhythm came with ease and little effort. I also encountered times when my modern life exerted its pressure to pull me out of the natural rhythm, yet I was able to bend/direct/choose to coordinate with universal rhythms- my willpower at play. Of course, there were times when I was in my own way, habits/tendencies/unsupportive actions, prevented this ideal rhythm. And lastly, there were times when those habits/tendencies/unsupportive actions were overtaken through my willpower aligning with the harmony and rhythm.
This experience was very beneficial as I witnessed more keenly my lifestyle/habits/tendencies. Where are the places I need to accept my modern family life? Where can I tend to the misalignment? Where can I nudge myself out of my own way? What can I accept as unsupportive habits/tendencies not ready to shift yet. Where can I place gratitude for those areas that come with ease.
The dance of karma and willpower will continue, yet with more awareness and inspiration on the target.