Thoughts on Yoga
How to Succeed in Yoga and Life
2007-03-30
In yoga as well as life, I have found the ultimate secret weapon against failure. It's the one quality that is more important than health, money, contacts, opportunties or talent: persistence.
Persistence means getting up every day and doing it again and again. Whether it's your yoga practice or running a business or getting a degree or being in relationship it's the same. If you can be the one that will do whatever needs to be done, every time it needs to be done, you will be successful.
In yoga classes I sometimes see new folks try to push their bodies into poses. It doesn't work in yoga or in life. When it comes to the postures and other yoga techniques, consistent modest effort is what is required. A succesful yogi is absolutely consistent. He or she does certain poses and techniques again and again for years on end until they become effortless second nature.
As a yoga instructor, I try to model alternatives to effortful striving. In yoga we are doing nothing short of restructuring our bodies and minds. This is a monumental task. In the process, students must gently weed out impatience, egotism, and force while cultivating steadiness, surrender and wise effort.
When you are trying to accomplish something really important the only thing you can control is your own efforts. You can't control how much talent you have. You can't control how much money will be at your disposal. You can influence but not really control what kind of opportunities you might be offered. But you can decide to show up again and again, do your practice, or do the work, long after others have gotten bored and given up.
One day you wake up and realize the change you have sought for so long has occured. It happened while you were still immersed in the sweet and bitter pleasure of making a persistent effort.