Ganda Bherundāsana — pose facing the difficult/terrible side

“Your doubt may become a good quality if you train it. It must become knowing, it must become critical. Ask it, whenever it wants to spoil something for you, why something is ugly, demand proofs from it, test it, and you will find it perplexed and embarrassed perhaps, or perhaps rebellious. But don’t give in, insist on arguments and act this way, watchful and consistent, every single time, and the day will arrive when from a destroyer it will become one of your best workers — perhaps the cleverest of all that are building at your life.” —Rilke

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Faith in yoga, faith in my teacher, and faith in myself grew slowly, gradually. Step by tenuous step. We may think we are committed to a path, and yet follow numerous twists, diverting ourselves repeatedly. When experimenting in practice, perception is tested and trained when faced with physical reality. We learn and align our actions through the experience of direct perception. Long, regular practice is the way to still the fluctuations of the consciousness that distort the luminosity within. The doubts that may have been so insistent and persuasive before gradually fade. With dedicated practice and experience, the seeker grows in wisdom and clarity. ✨

“The most important thing is practice in daily life that is how we can gradually get to know the true value of whatever teaching we follow.

What we need is a good heart, a disciplined mind and a healthy body. We will not transform ourselves merely by making wishes, but through working hard over a long period of time.” —The Dalai Lama, in the Foreword to “Core of the Yoga Sūtras” by B.K.S. Iyengar.