If we can all fast forward through time and see ourselves as older, maybe in a nursing home, lacking mobility, I highly doubt any of us would look back and say we wished we worked harder or spent more time shopping or going on social media! The stronger possibility is that we wish that we woke up sooner to our one precious, beautiful, and crazy messy life and maybe do things a little different to take that leap to live more courageously as ourselves!
What if I told you the time is NOW?! What supports this wakefulness? Our life does. By also adding practices of mindfulness and yoga to support a more present-centered focus because we all know our damn minds can drag us around all day long with an insatiable thirst that something outside of us can actually last and make us happy forever. Ah... the delusion!
Sadhana is "a generic term coming from the yogic tradition that refers to any spiritual exercise that is aimed at progressing the sadhaka towards the very ultimate expression of his or her life in this reality.”
Sadhana is done in the hopes of detaching from worldly things, which can be a goal of a Sadhu. I have practiced Karma yoga and practiced the six phases of yoga therapy for nine months as my sadhana practice. As I moved through the phases and met myself on the mat and cushion, real shifts within me happened, along with a new awareness that unfolded. I noticed the things that used to trigger me, didn’t elicit the same reaction. The attachments or need for approval dissolved into a new way of being.
Life is always a process of being in the cocoon and becoming a butterfly. Just being with it all is the practice.
Everything can be sadhana. Everything can be practice. The way you eat, the way you stand, the way you breathe, the way you conduct your energy, emotions, mind, body, thoughts. This is sadhana.
Sadhana does not mean a specific kind of practice, it means you are using everything as a tool for your personal development and your highest evolution of self. Just noticing and contacting wakefulness in your moment-to-moment life experiences is all there for you to wake up.
We can use anything as a practice to wake us up a little more. We came into the world and slowly the shaping began with our family of origin, different experiences, traumas on our systems, heartbreak, loss, gain, and the web was spun around the true nature of our being. You may be asking yourself, how does establishing a spiritual practice such as meditation help me? Adding these practices to your life truly is developing real intimacy with your being! Each of us can benefit and begin to question our thoughts and beliefs.
The practice I would like to share is called shamatha meditation. Shamatha is a Sanskrit word that is translated as the “practice of peacefully abiding” and the focus is on the sensation of the natural breath.
This practice is said to have been taught by the Buddha himself more than twenty-five hundred years ago. Shamatha meditation has been practiced by many over the millennia and by establishing this practice it can create and sustain balance and equanimity in an out of control world. Our minds want to find grounding, allow it to rest on your breath.
This practice of wakefulness and gentleness is one you can begin to add to your life to practice this idea of being in reality as it is or resting in the “isness” of this moment.
Here are some useful tips to create a sustainable practice:
Try to practice at the same time every day
Establish a realistic goal
Consistency over duration
Before practice, affirm your commitment
Establish a place for our practice
Last, let all expectations go!!!!!!
In meditation posture, we see beyond our likes and dislikes and begin to fully accept things as they are whether we agree with them or not. Little by little, we begin to show up for life, even when it doesn’t feel good. By sticking with practice, we authentically become ourselves.
If you’d like to learn more about meditation or yoga practices to enhance your life, visit cwbodyandsoul.com. I am here to support you on your path to come home to yourself!
Join our virtual meditation community today. Breathe, feel, connect, and contact the raw essence of you. The magic moment is always now.
Close your eyes and come home,
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