Allowing Ourselves The Time It Takes

I was doing a yoga class this morning and the teacher quoted Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.14 “When yoga is practiced continuously over time, and with devotion and sincerity, it will become a firm resting place.”

Of course the Sutra is speaking to the practice of yoga, but you could insert anything personal to you. When (___) is practiced continuously over time, and with devotion and sincerity, it will become a firm resting place.

In our culture of rushing, achievement, quick fixes and attention spans that are becoming shorter and shorter, we seem to be increasingly uncomfortable with anything taking time, requiring sustained attention, or the exertion of too much effort.

We want to feel proficient, successful, and to have what we want without going through the process of discovery, learning, growth and mastery.

We want easy, which is understandable when we take into account that growth can feel deeply uncomfortable. It requires that we come face to face with our vulnerabilities. It calls into question our sense of competency which we so closely correlate with our worth and value. We may have to bear with things that are inconvenient or counter to popular culture.

But, when things come to us quickly, or without effort, we often:

1.) Don’t truly value them

and

2.) Can’t sustain them because they don’t have deep roots.

When the Sutra says that the practice becomes a firm resting place, to me, it implies that it becomes a place of peace, security and refuge. A place you can return to because you are confident of its stability and security as a result of what you’ve cultivated over time.

We so often miss the fruit of our effort because we don’t allow ourselves the time it takes to produce it, and rob ourselves of the “firm resting place” because we become daunted by the journey. But the journey is OUR journey and it is the whole point.

Allow yourself the time it takes to reap its gifts.

Sending you all my love,

Kaitlyn