Thanks, Linda!
If you teach, you know this: students who engage with the material are ultra inspiring! While describing the nuances necessary for successful parenting through the lens of Yoga, I was looking for a perfect word to specifically describe the experience of mothering. "STAMINA," wisely states a student regularly attending Yoga for Osteoporosis. That's it. An ever-evolving stamina as our children grow, from physical, to mental, to emotional - all requiring a heavy dose of īśvara pranidhāna, on repeat.
Whether it's stamina to endure winter's last grip, stamina to sustainably build bone mass as we grow older, or stamina to survive, thrive and (basically stay alive and healthy) through parenting challenges, Yoga is an indispensible resource.
The 24/7, day/night, new/experienced, young old strategy for continued personal growth in this lifetime? Kriya Yoga.
Because what works for one doesn’t work for all.
Because random disciplines do not address the proverbial shadows.
Because thinking we can control only sets us up for disappointment.
Because…kriya Yoga (a concept you can learn deeply about in our upcoming Sādhana Pādah course, a deep dive into the chapter that outlines almost all you need to intellectually grasp to achieve success in Yoga).
Kriya Yoga’s a three-part series, none of which works as a stamina-building standalone. When committing to this compassionate work of respecting our evolving needs through our life phases, we have to ask ourselves three questions:
What discipline can I do right now to support my health, to eliminate what depletes it?
Is it actually what I need? Is it helping? Is it working?
Can I do this discipline with a balanced approach, staying focused on what’s within my control right now, and relinquishing what is not?
Let’s further unwrap this three part process, integral to progress through challenges, with an example. I have a fear of driving a vehicle over bridges. If I lived in Ohio, for example, this may not be an impediment. Since I live in NY, I have to drive over bridges to go nearly anywhere I want to go. I do an asana practice every morning and a meditation practice every night; however, my heart rate doubles and I fear my car will wind up in the water or the bridge will collapse when I am faced with a bridge before me, at the wheel.
My discipline isn’t addressing this fear. How can I change that? Reflecting on if my discipline is the correct one to reduce fear’s grip, its impact as it relates to my fear, which isn’t budging. Thus, something more specific and personal is required. If fear is there regarding a singular object of phobia, it’s likely an underlying issue.
The source of a deep rooted fear will be very deep. For me, I believe it’s water trauma, coupled with transgenerational, patriarchy power dynamic issues. While a meditation on a brave deity might be great for someone within whom fear is very pervasive in life, for me, it could increase my well-established fortitude too much, thwarting efforts to heal. Perhaps a mountain. A flower in spring. A calm goddess sitting on a swan to navigate water’s immense power with innate wisdom, and to induce a calmness that pre-dated my anxiety.
And then, I have to drive over the bridge. I take my meditation, my breathing, my mantra with me. While it transforms me daily, the test comes as I see the bridge, approach it, drive onto its precipice, drive over it. Without obsessing about anything except the quality of my attention, honoring my anxiety, yet knowing it isn’t all of me, and summoning the Danielle who has courageously clocked many life miles this far. Did my heart rate rise? Yes. Did I have thoughts of an accident and delusions of my little car not fitting in the lanes? Yes. Did the water intimidate me? Yes. But I took it breath by breath, focused on my action, and the fruit was a beautiful trip to the Berkshires, or a sweet, summer morning at the beach.
This is stamina, enduring the trials while adapting so they build you, and surrendering, but not giving up.