Morning Sadhana
Yogapedia Explains Sadhana
The term sadhana comes from the Sanskrit root, sadhu, meaning “go straight to a goal”. Routinely applying mind, body and spirit in the pursuit of a spiritual goal is the most natural and efficient way to surrender the ego, to find relief from suffering and to attain peace.
For this reason, sadhana is the cornerstone of the discipline of yoga. Yoga provides a huge variety of tools for this purpose, ranging from physical practices, such as asana (postures) and pranayama (breathing techniques), to more introspective applications, such as svadhyaya (self-study) and meditation.
With intention, awareness, discipline and daily practice, almost anything can be considered as sadhana. When formulating your own sadhana, it is important to choose practices that work for you, in order to provide the best conditions for you to stay committed with ease. It may be useful to vary the practices used for sadhana from time to time, so as to keep the practice from becoming an automated or obligatory routine. Ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts, such as Sadhanamala, offer suggestions for hundreds of sadhana practices designed for various results.
Discipline is arguably the most important facet of sadhana, so it does help to practice at the same time each day. The time of day itself is not important – for some, practicing sadhana soon after awakening helps them to keep up the practice without distraction or excuses, whereas for others, evenings allow them more focus or concentration.
During our 40 Day Renewal program we will also use a Daily Sadhana as a morning practice. When I first arrived at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing fifteen years ago, the very first teaching was the practice of meditation. Ask Deepok for the answer to any question and he will say, “Meditate.” In his program we learned the acronym of RPM = Rise + Pee + Meditate :-)
In my own experience teaching the Ayurveda/ Yoga philosophy, I hear the common complaint that students struggle with meditation. Quieting the mind, not thinking, and just sitting for the recommended thirty minutes often led students to quit.
In the evolution of my own self practice and practical teachings for others I have found that giving the mind a focus meets the similar result and is much more successful in completion of the goal. Using mantra (mind train) and breath and mudra (hand/ arm gesture) keep the mind focused and the body participating but also cohesively and after practice in harmony.
Now, that doesn’t mean its easy. Sitting to “do the work” really does test our impatience and disconnection. It’s easier to make an excuse than to show up each morning and just do it. But that is what we will be starting with!
Our morning Sadhana’s are a quiet practice to begin the process of tuning in, like a radio frequency, we are tuning to the channel of our heart, our inner voice. During the program we will have 8 morning practices to work with for 5 days at a time. Starting February 9 you will receive a new segment with an introduction to the practice. Each is under 30 min. As you prep for the program, I recommend carving out a sweet space for you to feel undisturbed (as best as possible). You don’t need much room maybe think besides the bed doing downdog? And have pillows, blankets, headphones, anything that helps you to wake up and come to your seat.
And of course, this is a practice. Start with a commitment to yourself, to just allow the experience to unfold, and observe the shift and transformation as you move gently, breath, focus and unite the mind/ body/ and heart together.
