As you practice yoga and
meditation regularly, this subtle sense of feeling good
gradually becomes so pervasive, so natural and genuine, so
much a part of you that it carries over into the whole of your
life. And in doing so it helps clarify your deepest longings,
motivations, and aspirations, thereby restoring optimism,
hope, meaning, and purpose to life.
This transition will be
smooth and easy much of the time (even unnoticed) because it's
so natural, but some of the time it may not be smooth or
easy. But this is only because growth hurts when you
resist change, and most of us have an inclination to resist
change in an attempt to remain comfortable by staying the
same.
But life is
change. Change happens, especially when you're involved in a powerful
transformative process such as yoga. You grow. You can't not change.
That's just the way it is. It's how things work. Therefore, in order
to stay comfortable as you grow, you must flow with the changes and
not attempt to remain the same - just as you buy a new pair of shoes
for your son or daughter when their feet have outgrown the pair
they've been wearing. It's not reasonable for them to continue wearing
their favorite shoes when they no longer fit. You get rid of the old
ones and buy a new pair. But the reason you need new ones is that
their feet have grown. Growth has occurred. Their foot grew, the shoe
became too small, their foot hurt. Pain is not an inherent part of
being a foot. Nor is it an inherent part of growth.
Your feet cannot be comfortable in a pair of shoes that has become too
small. Nor can an emerging flower be comfortable by staying inside its
protective husk that has gradually become too tight. Nor a growing
chick inside its shell. Nor can you be comfortable in old belief
structures and limited self-concepts. You must slough off the husk and
allow yourself to open and bloom. You must willingly let go of any
belief structure that limits your awareness and causes your experience
of growth to be painful. You must let go of that which until now has
been a protective coating or shield - and bloom. With the blooming
will come a new sense of self and new appreciation for life.
The confidence necessary to do this will accrue naturally from the
practice. You learn to open up by relaxing, being fearless, and
becoming increasingly defenseless. Defensiveness, or shielding, is
what creates the discomfort associated with growth. Changes start
happening, changes that may not always be initially welcome, and
rather than flow with the change and grow, many of us choose to stop
the process and stave off the change in an attempt to remain the same
a little longer. We contract in order to protect ourselves. We stop
the practice the moment it starts working, usually when
