I have been reading: Yoga as Embodied Resistance by Anjali Rao and wanted to recommend it. I think it is a great unpacking of yoga myths and its complex (and complicated) history; how it has been used to liberate and repress, and how we can reclaim it to heal together.

Link to the book and author: https://anjalikamathrao.com/

Audiobook preview on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfEkCXrLa3o

Looking forward to seeing you all online again next Thursday.

Iona

Might someone be able to direct me to the recording of the Zoom meeting from Thursday? I've gone under Webinar Replays however I don't see it.

Thank you!

Melissa

It was a fun discussion to transition from discipline into self-study and tapas. For me, when I first think of discipline, as others noted, I sort of jump to the idea of pushing myself. I jump to sports and running college track or getting through medical school and another hard test or getting myself to be able to sit in meditation for so many minutes, and I think about showing up every single day consistently without fail. And, often to get through some of those hard moments requiring the most discipline in one domain of my life another had to really really give. What I have found as I have gone through some of these experiences, I have found that the hardest discipline for me is actually the discipline of balance. It’s finding balance in the every day. I know how to study for a hard test because I only focus on that. I know what to do with time off, I bask in that. I know how to get better at mountain biking and put all of myself into it. But, can I show up a little bit for all parts of myself in my everyday without needing to dive into one and give up everything else? And, this is part of my self study is finding how to make that balance while also loving the part of me that can dive in so hard and accomplish something difficult.

What does this look like for me right now? I want to be consistently (not necessarily every practice every day) nourishing my emotional health, my physical health, my intellectual growth, my personal relationships, my community, and my work.

This is finding ways to nourish each one in small ways, being okay with a missed day and picking it up the next day knowing I didn’t fail when I miss something. It’s continuing to make these practices not be chores either, choosing the ones that feel nourishing in those days and moments and cultivating those practices.  It’s not over disciplining myself in any one domain or under disciplining and focusing on the very discipline of balancing.