Meditation Practice?


For whatever may come, it is best to have a variety of resources–inner and outer.

A number of years ago I had a conversation with a cherished friend and co-worker who is no longer in this body. I was explaining to her the yoga practice of samtosha (contentment), which is one of the five niyamas that make up the second limb of the eight-limbed path of yoga set forth in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. My friend said it felt like a great revelation to think of contentment as a practice. She had thought of it as a state you were either lucky enough to have — or not.
Many states or characteristics or attitudes that we tend to think of as only being innate characteristics or good fortune can be cultivated.
Wearing an exhortation on a t-shirt might not necessarily be my style, but I do agree kindness is worthy of cultivation when it does not happen spontaneously.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
I am taking off most of the work day so that I can attend a special three-hour asana practice at Willow Street Yoga with Desiree Rumbaugh. In order to get done things that should not wait until Monday, I chose to start working at 6, so I could forget about work when I left for Silver Spring at 9 am for the workshop. I needed my usual practice time to get done what needed to be done in the time allotted.
I noticed that I felt just a little edgier and less grounded this morning. Was it just feeling the pressure of needing to get things done or was it not having done my usual practice?
As I contemplated this question, I invited into myself the feelings I get from practicing, which I could do precisely because it is the first morning in a couple hundred mornings I have not sat for meditation.
What is important, though, is not to be addicted (with the side effects that come with any addiction when deprived), even as we are wholly committed to practice to have its benefits keep growing.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
NYC, Philadelphia, DC.