Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Wrestling With Yourself

Home
New Visions
Day 72 of 90: Modo Yoga, Finding Peace When It Is Hard

Day 72 of 90: Modo Yoga, Finding Peace When It Is Hard

Last updated on: September 20, 2013 at 5:15 pm by David Matthew Brown

Day 72 of 90: Modo Yoga, Finding Peace When It Is Hard 2013-09-20T17:15:53-06:00 David Matthew Brown

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Day 72 of 90 straight days of hot yoga at Modo yoga and today entering class I was feeling weighed down. Not by anything really, just the day itself. So I laid on my mat and focused on the breath, allowing the day to fall away, and as practice began, what I felt had fallen away, did not. My practice felt like work, the body felt heavy, and the legs were wobbly. So through my practice of acceptance, I accepted where I was at, which helped loosen some things up. But over all, today the practice was heavy.

Teacher Emily B was wonderful sharing a story of snow boarding, and strapping ourselves in for the ride. Now what I noticed is when the practice feels almost like a grind, the easy path is to beat yourself up, but yoga is about acceptance, and acceptance is gentleness and compassion which starts with us.

So when I felt myself wanting to push through, I labeled it, “pushing” and the pushing went away. In every single spiritual practice, whether we know it or not, the reason why we beat ourselves up is because we begin to see that it is happening inside of us, and rather than be with the experience, we negate it, and when you negate something, it is easier to harm, punish, or hurt. It is why people judge and criticize others, it negates the person, and gives them permission in their mind to harm with judgments, hurts, or punishment. All control is selfish and lacks love.

It happens in the politics of war. We negate a country which gives us permission to judge it, hurt it, and bomb it. By negating we dehumanize something. And we realize that there is no one to blame anymore, which can be frustrating, and we feel like we “should” be past this, or “this again!” But none of it is true. We just don’t want to accept what is, so it is subtle. The mind takes us out of the experience, and then breath puts us back in and says, “Yes David this where we are, now receive the breath and give it away.” So I just started a mantra, “I receive the breath” on the inhale and on the exhale, “I give it away.” Simple.

I was happy I was able to be with it, even though I discovered the mind wanting to be perfect, and not wanting to accept. I refused to negate and dehumanize myself. Every spiritual practice humbles us. Today was humbling. Day 72 reminds us to, “Receive the breath and give it away”. Again thank you to Emily B for her constant guidance and reminders in class….Namaste

David Matthew Brown- Humbled

90 Days straight of Hot Yoga

wrestling with yourself

Previous Post

September 19, 2013

Day 71 of 90: Modo Yoga, It Begins With You

Next Post

September 21, 2013 Day 73 of 90: Modo Yoga, Peace Be With You

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 90 Days straight of Hot Yoga spiritual Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz