Practice Patience

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. ~John Quincy Adams

We live in a world of digital pictures, drive-up windows and instant mashed potatoes. We have high-speed trains, high-speed internet and stoves with the ability to bring water to a boil in under one minute. With these advances to make things quicker you’d think we would have more time and patience but it has created just the opposite affect. Now, standing in line at the bank or post office and even waiting for a green light can be excruciating at times. Have we forgotten the virtue of patience?

When it comes to our bodies and minds, we usually want to see results right away. We even expect it. However, as reality sets in, we realize we have to put in the time and earn the results. Set a month long goal for yourself to practice daily. Take the time you deserve whether it is at the studio, at home with a DVD or in the park with spontaneous excitement.

Today I offer you a pose of the week: Adho Mukha Svanasana, or Downward Facing Dog. It is the pose we get to experience results in each time we work into it in our practice on the mat. At the beginning of our practice it is a heating pose, one that challenges us and asks our legs to lengthen and hearts to open. As we come back to it each time through each wave of sequencing, it evolves as our flow unfolds. It becomes a pose we maintain to bring us into a calm state of mind and acts as a buffer to our next round of engagement in new postures. Finally toward the end of class it becomes a restorative and restful pose. One in which we feel we can hang out in all day as the body and mind are open and responsive.

So let your practice evolve this month just as your Downward Facing Dog evolves on the mat. When we set a month long goal, we are still very much in the challenging phase at the beginning of our practice. We are still heating up and asking ourselves to respond. Patience wields this pose to take shape and change to something new each and every time. Practice this pose several times throughout your weekend and the coming week. Try it in the morning, noon and at night and experience it in different states of being. I guarantee you will see the differences each and every time.