Finding My Own Sadhana: Inner Obstacles

I started doing yoga five years ago with the sole motivation of getting physically fit.  I soon started to know and appreciate the subtle mind-clarifying benefits, and the importance of the breath in the practice, which can be applied to many situations throughout my day.  My practice stagnated for years when I found myself unable to pay for yoga classes and then I ended up traveling for two years consistently.  I continued to practice asana almost daily, but I wasn’t learning anything new or deepening my practice at all.  As soon as I started the Axis Yoga teacher training, I could almost immediately feel the benefits of deepening my practice by using pranayama, meditation, and mantra along with my ever-evolving asana practice.  At the same time I came up against a deep-seeded inner obstacle; a resentment to being told how to practice my spirituality, and an aversion to dogma and ritual (especially mantra for some reason).  Having felt the positive effects of sadhana in Vipassana, and in class, and seeing the use in overcoming aversions, I decided to use the opportunity to do a personal experiment to get to the bottom of this particular aversion.  I decided to try and do at least thirty minutes of sadhana a day and see what kind of effects it had on my mind and well-being.  I figured that if I could really experience the effects of the practices, then I could more easily overcome my aversions and allow them to become a part of my life and improve my well-being.