Originally published August 7, 2020
“What action is needed to make our life worthwhile? There is need for spiritual discipline and devotional practice. However, an important aspect of any spiritual practice is taking action at the end. You have to say, ‘I am going to put this to work in my life.’ That’s the part we often forget about in our practices, whether it be Karma Yoga or Hatha Yoga, meditation or mantra. How can this really become part of my life?”
~ Swami Radhananda, Living the Practice
Up until the last six months, I thought I had this “practice thing” down. I was teaching Hatha Yoga on a regular basis; working during the week to plan and practice the poses helped me to stay faithful to a Hatha Yoga practice. I often attended other teachers’ classes to help me to continue to explore the asanas in other ways. I was teaching reflection classes, which led me to study and reflect on various aspects of the teachings regularly. In addition, I would spend time at Yasodhara Ashram for Karma Yoga, where I loved having a daily satsang, and often spent time in the prayer rooms to increase my mantra and meditation practices.
Then everything changed. Going places and doing things – like teaching yoga classes and visiting the ashram – were no longer happening. I was spending almost all of my time at home with my family. There were constant interruptions and demands on my time. There was also lots of confusion, uncertainty, and even fear for my safety.
I threw myself into cleaning and gardening not only to keep myself busy, but also to keep from having to think too much. Sometimes, I sought mindless comfort and distraction. At night, I would find myself waking up with fears about the future and be unable to control my thoughts. Sometimes I would get up and read a soap opera kind of novel just to escape my fear.
These methods of coping have their place and work for a while, but eventually I began to see that I was not living up to my own ideals. I was losing my focus on expanding my awareness and becoming more compassionate. That’s when I began to reevaluate what it meant to “put this to work in my life.” When I could no longer rely on the studio and the ashram for the privacy and the occasional solitude to practice, I came to realize that I needed to examine my idea of what spiritual practice is. How could I practice now? What does Karma Yoga at home look like?
Little by little, I began to integrate the practices into my daily life in a new way. I started by making my time in the garden a meditation on beauty and abundance, a kind of Karma Yoga aimed at improving the land that I have been given. When I was feeling tense or restless, I would take time to do a few stretches and some yoga poses that called to me, discovering that my Hatha Yoga practice didn’t need to be limited to a certain time or place. When I was frustrated with the way things were, I intentionally shifted my focus to my breath, allowing some time for awareness and compassion to enter. I started keeping my mala under my pillow so that when I woke up in the middle of the night, full of fear, I could focus on the Divine Light Mantra. I began to take a few minutes in the morning, when no one else was up, to do a little inspirational reading and sometimes some written reflection. Slowly but surely, my present life and my practice have become more integrated.
Living in semi-isolation with my family and being cut off from my usual activities has been a blessing and a challenge. I have really had to work at expanding my awareness and my compassion for myself and the people I love. I have begun to see that practices I was taught are a lifeline for difficult times. I have had to face my impatience and my carelessness. I have had to look carefully at the way I talk to people and work with them. I have had to listen more carefully, try to be more receptive, and recognize when someone may need my help, and be respectful when they don’t want it. I am grateful to have the support of the teachings and the practices in this crazy time.
To reflect on how to fit spiritual practice into your own life, take some time standing in the Mountain pose (Tadasana) or sitting comfortably, and ask yourself:
- What does spiritual practice mean to me?
- Does it have to be something I’ve been taught or can it be something that just arises from my own experience?
- How can I change my idea of practice to suit these strange times?
- What practices enhance my life right now?
- Looking into my own life for things that bring me joy and gratitude, how can I make those things a practice that enhances my life and the lives of others?