We Are What We Practice

A few days ago, one of my favorite yoga teachers said something while we were pressing our palms and feet deeply into the earth in Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward facing dog. It was such a simple reminder and yet it struck me as a deeply important instruction. “We are what we practice,” she said.

I took another deep breath and settled more softly into the pose. Yes. We are what we practice, I thought. Then the question arose, what am I practicing? In yoga, I often find myself pushing my body into positions, straining toward something. But what exactly? Each day, I wondered, what am I creating with my habits, my beliefs, my behaviors? The answer was not what I wanted it to be.

But before turning against myself by making a painstaking list of all the things that I am not doing right, I reminded myself of the purpose of the question. The purpose is to realign practices with intentions. To make gentle, but firm corrections.

If my intention is to be kind and loving with others, do I practice this by being kind and loving with myself? Beyond the ways I nourish myself, these daily acts of care, am I kind and loving in my thoughts as well?

Often, it is not our habits of behavior but our habits of mind that can benefit most from realigning our practice with our intention. And it was here that I focused my energy.

Every time that the story that my mind strings together throughout the day did not support my kind and loving intent, I would guide the language to one that did. Thoughts about what was hard become thoughts about the gift in the present circumstances. Worries about how others might be preventing me from having what I want became reminders of all the ways people have helped me get where I am.

I offer this simple reminder and invitation to practice the life you want to live, the person you want to be. In this way, you tap into the deeply joyous person you are, that we all are. That great spark of life that began us can shine bright if we allow it to. In each moment, we are here, luminous.