Marrying Yoga and Religion: The Present

Even though I have had access to these treasured teachings for over five years, my practice has ebbed and flowed. I have often resisted them, felt too busy, lazy, or too tired to find the energy to implement the practices into my daily routine. After I reflected upon my recent journal entries, I recognized the need to adjust the length of my meditations and at the very least have the mentality to try and implement them at least once a day even if it means for a short period of time. I also discerned I must try and let go of my perfectionist tendencies towards meditation and strive more for consistency. I began to understand I should try and have less of an all or nothing attitude and find alternative ways to include these essential spiritual traditions into my life. For example, I found at times I needed to surrender to the fact I might need to break the routine into smaller pieces, or do them at different times of the day depending on what each day would bring. Thus, another reason why I conducted this experiment was because I predicted it would give me more of an incentive to stick to a regimented routine. Even though most days I was able to fit the techniques into my schedule, there were a few days over Thanksgiving where I had to remind myself to do just a little instead of nothing. Ultimately, I gained better insight into the need to let go of my need to do everything perfectly, which surprisingly included my approach to my meditation practice.