Results, success and guidelines

Results and Success

As we continue this journey to presence, let’s take a moment to think about some of the exercises that we have practiced so far. These exercises use two complementary approaches to enhancing the quality of our participation in our lives. The first approach consists of simple techniques to reconnect to our natural ability to be present. These include Returning to our home base, Pausing and relaxing, Validating, and Feeling (Feeling and Feeling Practice). All these exercises guide us in directing our awareness to the experience of being.

The second approach, which includes all the other exercises as well as the questions at the end of each episode, offers us ways to gain a deeper understanding of our own mental processes. For instance, we have been invited to consider that everybody is constantly improvising, that our attitude influences our perception, and that curiosity may be an antidote against our tendency to predict. We have also reflected on the ideas we have about who we are and about our true nature. We explored some fundamental questions, about the most important moment of our lives, about the world being friendly or hostile, as well as about how sometimes we might be our own best friend while other times we may behave like our worst enemy. We considered an attitude conducive to learning as well as some questions to ensure that we are intelligent in our learning. This second approach is guiding us in a process of self-inquiry to make more evident some of our tendencies and ways of being so that we can modulate them to make conscious and deliberate intentions, actions and interactions.

Results

Like with any other activity, it is essential to be able to tell if your practice is working. When you define yoga as presence, your yoga practice consists of choosing to show up to your own life, every day for every moment of it. It is a self-reinforcing cycle that starts with your decision to participate consciously and deliberately in your own life. Increasing the quality of your participation in your daily activities has a direct influence in the quality of your life. You know that your yoga practice is working because your life experience improves: You feel healthier, happier, and more energetic.

If, on the other hand, any aspect of your yoga practice is generating more agitation, negative self-talk, pain, and complaining, then the techniques you are using, or the approach you are following, may not be the most appropriate for you at this time. In that case, you can return to the notion that yoga is both a practice and a state. To start the cycle, choose to be present. Second, notice the distractions that take you away from this moment. Next, choose to drop the distractions. With a friendly attitude, keep returning to the only moment when you can act, the moment you are in. Knowing that whatever decisions you make in this moment have ramifications that will influence the next moment (and the rest of your life) may be enough motivation to make intelligent decisions right where you are. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to participate in your own life, because it is your life, and nobody else can decide for you what is best or what to do. Make conscious and deliberate decisions, if only because you are the one who will have to live with the consequences. A question that can direct your exploration is this: Do I notice a growing tendency to participate actively in my life instead of endlessly entertaining myself with my opinions and internal dialogue?

Success

Success can be defined as accomplishing goals. As a living being, staying alive is your main goal. The fact that you are alive, breathing and reading this, means that you have navigated successfully all the previous moments in your life. Indeed, every single moment in your life, every single decision and action, including triumphs, mistakes, and everything in between, have brought you to this moment. This moment is the culmination of your whole life. It needs repeating and remembering that this moment is the single most important moment of your entire life.

There is no other moment. This is the only time you can act and participate in your life. How you attend to this moment is a choice (conscious or unconscious) that you make. Your actions will influence every single moment after this. Of course, since it is your life, you are free to choose whatever you want to do. Consider if being fully present in this moment is essential.

The other definition of success is to keep trying. As a normal human being you will be distracted many times. Just keep returning to this moment with gentle friendliness and cultivate everything that is conducive to living a vibrant, joyful, and meaningful existence. As you continue exploring options for living consciously, remember that you are a success and remember that presence can be invited, but it cannot be forced.

As you contemplate your tendencies, inclinations, and ways of being, consider if these presence guidelines might be helpful:

• Set your meaningful intention.
• Show up with open mind and open heart.
• Give yourself time.
• Relax and cultivate being with what is.
• Distractions will happen.
• Keep returning to this moment with curiosity.
• Release any strain, any struggle, and any self-judgment.
• Smile.
• Feel the effects.

As usual, take a few minutes every day to contemplate these ideas to notice if they are guiding you to a deeper understanding and knowledge of yourself.

If you prefer, you may listen to the podcast:

This is an excerpt from the book Unravel the thread: Applying the ancient wisdom of yoga to live a happy life

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