Your Practice Doesn't Have to be Perfect

It might surprise you to learn that I've had difficulty keeping up with my daily yoga routine. I realize it sounds odd coming from a yoga instructor. For a long time, I criticized myself for feeling like an impostor. How could I claim to be a teacher when my personal practice was, at best, inconsistent? How could I guide others in living a Yogic lifestyle when the only time I set foot on my mat was to conduct a class? How could I praise the benefits of breathwork and meditation when I couldn't find a few moments to simply close my eyes and breathe? Essentially, I spent a lot of time flip-flopping between being determined to get my practice back on track and reminding myself that Yoga is much more than just "asana," only to then scold myself when I fell short of what I believed my practice should be, or felt frustrated with myself for not being able to achieve a particular pose I thought I should master.

(I call this pic A Story in Three Parts)

The turning point occurred during one of my visits to Satchidananda Ashram when I had the chance to sit once more with Swami Gurucharananada (affectionately known as “Mataji”) for spiritual and personal guidance. As was often the case, our conversation covered a range from the mundane to the enlightening. On this particular occasion, I confessed to her my lack of motivation and my struggle to stay on track. I felt unwell physically, mentally, and spiritually, and I knew that if I could just return to my Yoga practice, I would feel better, but I simply could not find the will to do so.

What she said to me was both simple and profound…take the ego out of it.

She and I talked about Sutra 1:14 which says, “Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness,” and offered me the following prescription:

• 4 x Sun Salutes

• Shoulder stand

• Fish Pose

• 5 min of breathwork

• 5 min of meditation

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I want to emphasize that your practice doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't have to be long or complicated. Consistency is beneficial, but sometimes practice can simply be sitting quietly and breathing mindfully for a few minutes.

Here's some encouragement: if practicing at home feels challenging, seek out classes you enjoy attending. Look for instructors who challenge you without fostering a competitive environment and who support you in practicing in a way that suits you each day. Modify as much as you want to, and push yourself when you feel like doing so. Some days you might feel powerful in your practice, and others not so much; both are perfectly fine

. Just remember, it's practice not perfection, and if you approach it that way you will always feel good about what you have done and can do, no matter what that happens to be.