Not Bar Food
The theme for my morning yoga class today was “tapas”. Not to be confused with the Spanish small plates of food. But rather the Sanskrit word for “discipline”.
Our teacher asked each of us to think of a word we might associate with discipline and asked me to introduce myself and start off. The first word that popped into my mind was “exercise” because it takes so much discipline on my part to do it on a regular basis.
I said it and immediately looked at the sea of 24 other faces wondering if they would think I was a total dork. But amazingly at least 6 other people said the same thing. There were also a lot of “work”s as well.
It was a hard class today. At one point we were challenged to hold a plank pose on our forearms for either 30 seconds or a minute. Either of those seems like an eternity when you are suspended like that. My usual inclination would be to go for the 30 seconds. But I decided to tough it out and lasted for a whole minute, virtually collapsing into child’s pose afterwards.
I came out of that class just a little more determined to actually stick to my game plan for exercise this week. It does make a difference in the way I feel.
So what comes to your mind when you think of “discipline”?
posted by Barbara at 11:51 PM
2 Comments:
I cannot quite the think of one word discipline inspires for me except, maybe, regimen: A regulated course intended to preserve or restore health or to attain some result. Doing something for the sake of the result, even if the path isn't always fun.
I'm going to have to think on that!
Good question! The first two words that came up for me were "resolve" and "follow-through." It's about my choice to do (or refrain from doing) the thing in question, and that there's conscious commitment needed from me. But "discipline" certainly has its place in my life, and I fall back on it when I need to crack the whip on myself...in going to bed instead of staying up too late, in practicing my music, in developing my career, in meditating regularly, in trying to regulate my emotional responses to tough stuff, in "showing up" or doing needed tasks rather than blowing stuff off...
Yoga's so great for building the discipline muscle!
Ha -- love my verification word: "fringe!"
F.
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