Blog

“I’m extraordinarily patient, as long as I get my own way in the end”                      – Margaret Thatcher

Sound familiar ? For many of us Patience is one of the hardest things to cultivate, in our relationships, in our work, as parents, in our yoga practice or when learning something for the first time.

For me getting to know this quality we call patience within myself (or lack of it!!, became apparent when I was first learning to surf) – I was patient as long as I got the wave;)

The Yoga Sutras talk about patience as being one of three qualities required to move into a yogic state – i.e. a state of ‘union’

So how do we develop it?

“Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness”

(Sutra 1:14 as translated by Sri Swami Satchidananda)

Unfortunately we all want it ‘now’ and reality is that patience too requires practice.

A friend of mine not long ago said -” I want to learn how to surf but I am not naturally sporty like you”

The truth was I definitely was not naturally ‘sporty’ and learning to surf took me a very long time. It took getting up every morning for years, paddling against currents and sweeps, getting belted around through white wash, staying out for hours and some days not getting a wave.

How I learned to surf was through determination, effort but also following & trusting a feeling deep inside of me that just knew that surfing would feed my soul and help me to learn, grow and to connect to life itself. Both Surfing & Yoga  has shown me that If you are patient, determined and follow your heart you will be rewarded!

Yoga is like surfing – the qualities required for you to learn yoga is what serves you in the end.  Weather you get the wave or the ride of your life you still feel connected to something bigger.  Something bigger than all of the bullshit that sometimes goes round and round in the mind.  What I notice when I surf or do my daily asana or meditation practice there is less anxiety, less self doubt, less judgement – LESS BULLSHIT!

The SECRET is –  the simple act of making the effort to get out of bed and ‘just do it’

So this is my own personal analogy & experience of this Yoga Sutra (1:14)

Satchidananda gives us this analogy –

“So let us not be like little children who sow a seed today and dig it up tomorrow to see how much the root went down”

When I was in Hawaii doing one of my teacher trainings with Baron Baptiste, I remember his analogy – “If you rush the unfolding of a rose, you will break off it’s petals” – be patient!

When you are patient your mind is more settled and calm – which will help you do what ever it is you are doing with more ease.

In order to develop the ease we need an equal amount of effort (which is also part of the practice of yoga.  To feel ‘connected’, to feel this yogic state of ‘union’ we need to work on it!

Finding a teacher you connect with and a style that brings you peace is a good place to start. We are blessed with many different styles in Yoga.  Patanjali also indicates in the Sutras that it is not the style that is important. What is important and helpful to know is that if you are unsettled and anxious to get the results straight away (IMPATIENT) your mind is already disturbed, nothing done with that disturbed mind will have quality.

So it is not only how long you practice, but that you do it with a quality of mind that is patient, trusting and kind.

I use to say Surfing & Yoga taught me how to be patient – but it is sustained effort over a long time and ‘trusting it is good for me & others’  that helps me practice it.

Namaste

Tammy xox