I receive a magazine in the mail that I have never subscribed to, Yoga Journal. I receive it because I purchased a Manduka yoga mat from Amazon.com for my workout room; the magazine came free with the mat.
I read it because sometimes other religions give insight on spiritual truths in a new light that is refreshing as a different way to view what I believe from my own spiritual tradition.
So, I took a break from cleaning my house this morning and read an article in the Nov 2011 issue of Yoga Journal “Making Space,” by Kate Holcombe.
She talks about how she is a huge Giants fan, and she found herself getting so involved in watching games and replays online that she lost sight of her “practice.” She didn’t like the results of her changed attitude so she reaffirmed her commitment to her goals.
She says “In Yoga Sutra I.12, Patanjali explains that to achieve a state of yoga, or focused concentration, one must cultivate both practice and detachment.” (Holcombe 57)
She defines practice as “anything that brings you closer to whatever goal you have, whether it’s improving your health, learning a new skill or trade, or being a better listener.” (Holcombe 57)
I love to take the end of an old year, to reflect on direction, and make goals for the New Year.
My goals for this 2011 were to maintain daily bible study and devotions and to train/run a half marathon. To meet the goals I had to plan to meet them. That meant discipline: going to bed early so I could wake up early and have time to read my bible, pray, and work out. It meant consecutively longer weekly runs, the last of which had me on my feet and running for 3 hours. I’m ready to run my half marathon next Sunday. The training has been done.
Holcombe says that practice and detachment are like the wings of a bird “they work together – neither can serve its purpose without the other. In other words, practice alone is never enough to get you to your goal; you must also cultivate the discipline of letting go of the habits of impediments that are standing in your way.” (Holcombe 58)
Those of us who have left strongly authoritarian and legalistic religion are so allergic to any list of rules or to anyone suggesting that something might not be in our best interest. At this point in many of our lives, the thought of a preacher telling us what to wear, where we can go, what we can do, who we can see, makes us sick to the stomach. Blindly following a preacher isn’t what God wants for us anyway. He wants us to learn to be led by the Spirit, to read our bibles and talk to Him and see where he wants us to go, and then clear our path so we can get there.
Detachment “refers specifically to the habits, practices, attitudes that impede your progress toward whatever goal you have set for yourself – and these are different for everyone. For one person, it might be coffee or wine; for another it might be a defeatist mindset.” (Holcombe 58)
Anyway, I just wanted to share these thoughts with you this morning, as I am thinking about what I want to accomplish this upcoming year, and how I am going to clear my path so I can get to where I want to go.
Philippians 3
13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Hybrid Mode
