Concentration is hard, except once you're actually doing it

The topic of focus I'm closing out with this post is the yogic principle of concentration practice, or dharana. A good write up on dharana can be found here. When first evaluating this principle, I could readily find examples in my life where my concentration on yoga asana and breathing practice has been able to seep into my "living life" in a positive way. During yoga practice, the opportunity to practice concentration is ongoing. Concentration, which is quintessentially "being in the moment", is most evident during balancing poses or physically difficult poses where strength or flexibility are challenged.

I'm fortunate enough to say that living through these concentration challenges while in the safe confines of a yoga asana practice have allowed me to view myself and my capabilities in a much more positive light outside of the yoga practice. For starters, if you can practice focusing on breathing long enough to hold a pose you didn't think you could do, or balance on one leg for an extended period of time...just think of what miracles you can stretch yourself into while living life!

When completing tasks of everyday life over the last two and a half weeks, I often reminded myself to return to the state of dharana, or concentration. The fact I had to remind myself shows I have much more room to practice. This is a good thing, as I get to continue exploration of this principle. I love that the teachings of yoga allows you to respect where you are in the present, all while providing a positive context for growth inside of your already perfect self.

I find it most difficult to stay present and concentrated when I'm upset, anxious, or have any other type of negative emotion. If I'm in one of these states, it is helpful to if I can get to a state of peace by concentrating on the moment versus the upset. Afterall, all upsets in reality are just feelings about something that's already past. However, getting there, or trying to get there can be the tough part! Using the negative feeling as a reminder is one way to train oneself to get back to the present, to focus on the now.

Namaste

Thoughts on Maitri Experiences (and lack thereof)

Practicing loving kindness towards oneself is an easy practice to forget. The last two weeks I found myself often forgetting this concept entirely and inevitably delved into the self-inflicted pains of blame, self-doubt, and frustration. However, the times I did remember the practice were well worth noting, as evidence to keep this principle alive no matter what. Though many times in life we can find plenty of reasons to not love ourselves (that may look different for each of us, but we all experience it), it ultimately does us no good.

For me, investigating the "why" behind self blame/hatred is reason enough to drop it altogether. As with all non self-kindness activities, it's merely a way to avoid responsibility for whatever it is that is going on in our lives we're associating the contempt. Blame in general acts as a diversion from dealing with reality. Hatred (especially when directed at the self) is a way for one’s ego to avoid attention on the matter at hand and instead focus on the separateness identified with the object (in this context, oneself). So why not turn that around and merely fess up those unappreciated attributes to ourselves instead? Learning from real or imagined self-inflicted dislike is much less painful than reliving such matters. Logically this makes sense, but I’ve found it can also be hard to remember.

In light of the human tendency to conveniently forget what's best for ourselves, I will cut to the chase on the reasons (benefits) to remember to apply the principle of Maitri. When I was able to access self love and kindness in times of pain, what I found was a sense of recognition of choice. When I needed it most, coming back to it was like having the experience of suddenly remembering a wonderful thing that had simply skipped my mind. I remembered the choice that I always have right inside of me to have reality occur differently. In all my moments of recognition, my case against myself was obliterated by the compassion, love, and reason I provided inside of that wonderful memory. When being with loving kindness with myself, I no longer felt agitated, uneasy, or blameful of myself -- or others.

Perhaps flexing this particular memory will work like exercise, as in muscle memory. The more I use it the more I'll remember to use it going forward. What do you find challenging or rewarding about the practice of loving kindness? Please share your thoughts in the Comments.