This word comes up so much lately in my vocabulary. Because I am home with my daughters all day now, it comes up very often actually. When I tell them they need to practice patience, ironically, in every instance I hear myself say those words, I notice, in Presence, that it is
me who can use a bit of practice with this virtue.
The funny thing is patience is such a great virtue to embody when we are patient enough to practice it!
So I finally looked up patience and one definition is:
an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.
When I read this I laughed, literally out loud. Daily scenarios began flying through my mind. How many times do I stop during my day to explain
again how it's important to share, why the sky is blue, why we can't at this time, have
another ice cream cone, why mommy has to go to work and why they have to come with me and can't stay home alone. How I
love that they like to answer my phone but really, I would rather do it myself. How when I am writing my Om, I love them with all my heart and I understand that what they have to say is important but I
really need space to think right now. How it's not nice to hit, it's nice to share, and all fun days had at the pool, beach or the park end with cleaning up and putting things away.
Got the picture? My day is riddled with lessons in patience! I believe it is God's way of telling me,
this is the one you need to practice NOW! Maybe the kids aren't the ones that need to learn patience, maybe it's me and they are here to teach it to me. Wouldn't that be ironic and Divine.
Let's relate this to our yoga practice for a moment. How do you feel when you are working on a pose and something physical is keeping you from performing that pose in its fullest expression?
But I have been working on it for so long! Why won't my hips open enough in Baddha Konasana (Butterfly Pose)? Why can't I get my leg over my arm for Astavakrasana (8-Angle Pose)? Why am I unable to lift up completely in Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow/Wheel Pose)? Maybe this IS
our fullest expression of this pose.
This is the time to cultivate patience. Patience is a virtue ... isn't that the age old saying? If we can look at ourselves with compassion and say,
that's not where I am at just yet. Something needs to give in order to move upward, onward or backward like in Wheel.
In that moment of restlessness or annoyance we can breathe and say "patience". We can look at ourselves with love and just be in that moment or in that version of the pose and realize we are perfect right where we are. We don't need to go any further right now.
Could it be that cultivating patience is God's way of getting us to understand that we are perfect where we are? And that until we realize that in each moment that we will be faced again with the same blockage in our pose or circumstance in our life?
Patience is something we cultivate and nurture throughout our entire life. It's something we run across every day. So notice it in your poses or in your experiences. Know that it is a Divine signpost reminding you that you are perfect.
Go to our website
Take your yoga practice home with you! Now available, Dana Layon's at home, audio CD's. These at home practices are suitable for all levels of yoga practitioners.
Take your practice home with this yoga DVD that anyone can do! Be prepared: have your yoga mat, yoga block, blanket and strap available. 60 minutes of yoga that will leave you feeling relaxed, strong and flexible.
