A Firmly Grounded Practice - II

You are what your deep driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.

~ Briha Daranyaka Upanishad. IV.4.5

More on cultivating a firmly grounded practice from, Inside the Yoga Sutras, by Reverand Jaganath Carrera.

Patience, perseverance, joy, and dedication combine to shorten our journey. Even a one-hundred-foot cube of granite can quickly disintegrate under this pressure.

Yoga is a science. If you practice diligently, you'll get the results. There is no doubt about it. We develop into better people, seeking within ourselves to find the place where devotion lives, where consistency is the natural state, and where the roots of love are hidden. We could replace, "long time, without break, and in all earnestness with "devotion, consistency, and love." These qualities will serve us well in any endeavor.

How can we tell if our practice has become firmly grounded? One simple answer is: when it is harder not to practice than to practice. Another touchstone is: when, for reasons beyond your control, practices are missed. Does skipping a day or two or a change of schedule initiate a cascade of irregularity? If so, the practice is not yet firmly grounded. Those who have firmly established their practice are not thrown off by changes in schedule, place, or time. For them, the joy and benefits of the practices are stronger than worldly distractions.

Dedicated practice generates a flow of mental energy toward Self-realization so strong and vital that no other result can follow. If we persist in promoting that flow, we will someday experience help (grace) in the form of the pull of the Absolute.

I also appreciate how the author explains the oneness of what Yoga practice means, and is never limited to any one thing.

Sri Patanjali demonstrates the universality of his understanding by simply presenting steadiness of mind as the foundation of spiritual practice.

That is why it is not a stretch to say that when a Catholic prays the rosary, it is essentially what the Yoga Stutras define as Yoga practice. It is the same with a Buddhist monk engaged in walking meditation in the jungles of Thailand and the Jew who reverenly prays in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem or the Muslim facing Mecca in prayer. They may or may not know the name "Yoga," but according to the authority on the subject, they are engaged in Yoga practice.