Have you ever wanted to inflict punishment on yourself, just for fun? Yeah. That seems pretty twisted to me too. Yet that is discipline. Discipline is punishment for a purpose. It is following a code of conduct in order to better your life. Yet words like control, rules, and punishment do not appeal to me.
Most of my life I have made it my discipline to be noncommittal. The idea of commitment is scary. Ambition, setting a standard of expectation, is scary.
Yet I realized something the other day. Why do I find it easy to discipline myself with my yoga?
Yoga practice is accepting yourself where you are and not judging yourself.
It requires forgiveness of yourself and patience. And from this practice that embraces me with its acceptance, its love, its patience, I find my passion. Passion then fuels the discipline. I come to my mat to understand myself, to better myself, and to find my peace in God.
Isn’t our relationship with the Divine Creator the same? He accepts us, as we are, beautiful and sculpted by His hand. Though we fail, He is patient. He is gently guiding us to push a little further, finding a better part of ourselves in His embrace. And through this dance of unconditional love we find the passion to discipline ourselves to come to that mat with Him more often.
