The Benefits of Sadhana: Abandoning the Practice

As part of this experiment, I decided to abandon my sadhana practice for a week, just to see if I noticed a difference.  This sort of backfired, as one week very easily became two, and then, even crept into three.  I was shocked at how easy it was to come up with excuses not to practice.  Mainly it was, “I need more sleep”, or “I’m too busy”.  Well, I had been just as busy and sleep-deprived in those previous months, but I still awoke around 4:30 or 5am to fit in my sadhana.  I made time for it.

Also worth mentioning, was the noticeable shift in my attitude and stress level.  I so easily reverted back into old samskaras, or patterns, allowing myself to be drawn into situations and emotions, then feeling drained.

Another thing that I observed was my swearing.  Being a mom has pretty much taught me to forego this habit…at least out loud.  During this experiment, I became very conscious of just how much I do swear, even if it is mostly inside my own head.  Suddenly, I was acutely aware of every time I silently swore at a rude driver, an inconsiderate co-worker, or sometimes just people in general, or a situation.  So, here, I realized that I had not been doing this in the past couple of months.  I noticed that it almost hurt a little each time I swore, on a subtle spiritual level.  Also, I felt like I was just hurling that angry energy out into the Universe, no matter how silent it was.