Adam discusses how to stay motivated and inspired in a yoga practice that can sometimes feel repetitive. He explores the challenges of maintaining focus and setting realistic goals, emphasizing the importance of individuality and avoiding comparison. Adam also highlights the need for self-reflection and finding meaning in one’s practice.

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Takeaways

Maintaining motivation in a yoga practice requires setting realistic goals and avoiding comparison with others.
Finding meaning in one’s practice is essential for long-term motivation and perseverance.
Creating a consistent practice space and routine can help in staying focused and committed.
Building self-trust and confidence is crucial in overcoming challenges and making better choices in practice and in life.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and New Year’s Greetings
00:59 Attitudes Towards Practice
02:25 The Changing World and the Unchanging Self
04:21 Maintaining Motivation for Practice
05:41 Realistic Expectations and Setting Goals
06:38 Listening to the Body and Practicing with Awareness
07:35 Avoiding Comparison and Vanity in Practice
09:03 The Journey of Practice and Finding Meaning
10:21 The Challenges of Progress and Comparison
13:03 The Pain of Change and the Struggle for Sameness
14:53 Embracing Individuality and Avoiding Comparison
17:35 Maintaining Motivation in Different Seasons of Life
19:01 Keeping the Spark Alive and Avoiding Despondency
20:21 Finding What Works for You and Being Flexible
22:18 The Long-Term Perspective and Reflecting on Progress
24:15 Creating a Consistent Practice Space and Routine
26:24 Building Self-Trust and Confidence
28:13 The Search for Meaning and Understanding
31:05 Choosing the Path of Uprightness and Making Better Choices
33:19 New Year’s Wishes and Farewell

Hello everyone and welcome to the new year if you didn’t know already 2024 often get that date confused as I think we all do what what year is it now when you remember 2000 you know you’re in trouble when you’re an adult in 2000 it was like how could that possibly happen

24 25 years almost later we’re still here still here and hopefully doing well um I so I hope you’re well today I hope I find you well and if you’re not in there and better times will always come again that’s the nature of life um supported by the gooners that their life

Is always changing and you know better times roll with good and then good times tends to go south and uh you know it’s a merry go around until it’s not so enjoy it and then as they say in the begita for the harder times you know sometimes

We just have to bear them and then sometimes we can change our attitude towards them so I suppose on that note we’re looking at the podcast today as just a take on at choose to practice again so how can we stay motivated enthused inspired by a practice that is

Well repetitive um and just goes on every day it’s like you know you just finished one you think well that’s a good job done you know please with that pleased I motivated myself and did it you know and then it’s like the next day the same again

Already and I think you know no one I think no one feels that they you know kind of super enthused to get on the M every day and I think if people claim they do I don’t believe them you know I I think you know the whole point of the

Practice is to try and stabilize ourselves or you know something along those lines to a world that’s always changing and you know we’re always inspired you know basically human beings with our senses pointed outwards we’re always inspired to go into the world and engage with it you know go into the world

And consistently seek stimulation and excitement and Novelty you know and change you know like our senses are structured on change they need you know to feel to know ourselves we need change we you know if any pleasure goes on from too long for example it becomes completely unfelt or it turns to pain

Yeah so the senses themselves encourage us to act in a certain way you know it’s not exactly our fault and none of this is our fault in fact we’re born into this mechanism you know the body the mind and the world outside um and you know if we don’t do anything about it

We’re just going to be taken on this use word I just use merry go around Carousel continue by the senses seeking new stimulus seeking new stimulus because that’s what the senses do so the whole idea of yoga is obviously to control the senses and you start with the easiest

Thing which is to control the senses because it’s a lot easier to do that than to control the mind then you work inwards from there you know so it’s like well you look at the problem okay the world is continuously changing you know we are according to Yogo anyway not

Buddhism but according to yoga we’re essential you know we have an essential nature which is unchanging which is not temporary which is you know Eternal according to yoga and you know even on a superficial level you know if we are a consistent thing inside right you know

Yourself and you feel the same way as you did when you were like when we talking about the you the year 2000 you feel the same way as you did in 2000 you know you feel that same sense of self you know there’s a there’s a consistent stable continuous entity there that

Wants to know itself in that manner but we constantly look outside and evolve ourselves with outside stimulus which is always changing so there in lies the the the kind of painful bit is that we are something which is the same and yet we look to constantly changing world to find

Ourselves there and it’s constantly changing and we try and we try and cons continuously hold on to to the world and make it the same you know to reflect ourselves in the way that we want to know ourselves which is samess but it doesn’t do that it moves around and it

Doesn’t do what we want and and therefore lie that this this this struggle this pain this suffering in the end I mean you call it pain but you know some it’s pain some it’s just a bit discontent or a bit poored you know but

At the end of the day it’s you know it’s this change change is the problem you know the changing world and the fact that we aren’t you know inside our Consciousness is not changing it’s you know that when we have that sense of peace right there’s that sense of peace

That comes from having a situation that is just stable nothing really nothing at all you know we’re not feeling anything we’re not being stimulated at all but I suppose that’s a bit of a diversion really you know so we have this this situation with the senses anyway which

Distracts us from practice obviously you know one day we want to do this we want to practice I you know remember when you went to the practice first time he just like walked out you know God my God how did I never do this and there it’s like

You know fourth day fifth day it’s already feeling like you know okay you know was good still good you a few months later he’s like well you know now i’ got a little bit of tweaks and a little bit aches and pains you know and should I continue this and you know five

Years down the line or you know when did I start 1990 late 1990s you know so you know I mean bloodly long time to be honest right um and you know how do you continue getting up and doing something like that when you’d rather just go and

Make a coffee and have a cappuccino and have a croissant you know I mean honestly you know you know you feel better for it so I suppose that’s the first thing is how you continue well you’ve got all this weight of builtup experience that you know it’s good for

You right so you just use that and I’m using the things that you are really honestly I maybe just have done it for a longer time and I happen to have the skill of articulating sometimes sometimes so first of all I use that I sit on the sofa and I think

You know like if you don’t do that how will you feel you do something and then secondly you know the obvious thing I’ve said a million times do something you know do something and and don’t think you have to do everything just think I’m going to get on the mat and do something

I think that’s David Swenson’s idea in the first place right you know just get on the mat roll it out stand on it and that’s a practice right and then you know to be honest nothing ever just goes you know you don’t just ever get on the

Mat and then roll it back out again you know roll it and put it back in the Cabbage right you’re going to do something more at that point right so there in lies you know the second thing is just like don’t have let yourself off

The hook as we say don’t feel you have to do everything doing something is more than enough yeah yeah and sometimes you’re tired right and sometimes you should respect your body you know how do you know well it’s difficult you know you get on the mat and you start and you

See how you feel you know and I think if one’s honest and one doesn’t have an a sense of mental ambition well I ought to do this I ought to do that you kind know how you feel you know you know push yourself because often it’s more

Effective going with your body than just trying to do the same thing every day you know in terms of progress and certainly in terms of your mental emotional Evolution God knows about the spiritual any I’ll leave that to you but we you know we’re more pragmatic today

We’re you know I can talk about that we’re talking about how how to continuously maintain a focus for practice maintain motivation and uh yeah goals realistic goals as well you know because they make a big difference to focus and uh motivation right if you got

A goal you know as I said if you got a goal of having to do the same thing every day like you did in my or like your my teacher tells you to you know this ought to be a six days a week practice you need to practice it every

Day why simply why you know only yoga after all it’s meant to make you feel better it’s meant to support your life you’re not meant to structure your whole life around yoga although it’s an easy trap to fall into you know I did this

For many years you know but then I was a careerist Yogi as it were you know careerist yogi no not at all but a careerist yoga teacher yes and in terms of wanting to progress through the series in terms of myself as a teacher and my reputation as a teacher

Let’s say and all this stuff is you know Creeps in there you know and it’s going to creep into the practice because we’re all human you know in the end of the day like it’s just because we’re doing yoga it’s not a magic force field around you

They say as soon as you’re doing yoga you no longer have ambition you no longer have per personal motivations you no long have vanity or Pride towards it of course you do you know of course you do you know the yoga is there to give you that same experience of you know of

Sameness every day and in the end it kind of chips away at this this trying to make yourself something in the world so you’re trying to because this is all what the the senses are doing they’re looking out in the world to Define us we feel this inherent sense of lack I mean

Assuming this inherent sense of lack is where you get the Christian idea of original sin you feel this inherent sense of lack looking out in the world is the most immediate thing to do when a baby’s crying it’s looking out for something you know and then we you know

And then continuously being told to and naturally doing so looking out inside looking out outside to embellish to to to develop to make ourself something more the sense of lack or not enough is just so deeply embedded so we we keep doing that you know and you know we’re

Going to do that in yoga as well trying to keep adding on experiences kind adding on postures adding on accomp lishment you know the sense of making ourselves enough through accomplishment is what yoga is trying to chip away at you do something long enough and you

Start to even you know you get to my age you know 45 almost you know you start to backslide you know what is it all about now you know and that’s where it really gets interesting right when you get injuries in a way you know not to be too

Polyan about it but when you get setbacks when you get injuries when you you don’t feel like it that’s when it really gets interesting I mean you know anyone could be accomplished at something and feel good about something and we you know you into go into yoga

Because you were reasonably okay at it you know so um and then we just do the same thing as we did anywhere else generally try and be better at it you know and usually unfortunately better has to be in comparison to you know we don’t set those challenges completely to

Do with ourselves alone better is comparison to someone else to other people how am I in this whole room of practitioners how do I stand you know blah blah blah in this you know in this community and my level you know is my level good enough well you’ve never seen

Anyone practicing Ash Tanga right and you know I mean you know you know when you got into it first of all and you walked into the room and it was just a joke you seeing Jen charer C Mary charer D is this for real and you know just thinking you know

It was so out of the ballpark you didn’t even think of comparing yourself you just had to go and enjoyed it and then soon enough you start getting a I mean I’m talking about my own Journey it may not be yours you start getting a bit

Good at it you know and then you start comparing the compare the whole thing starts again you know when you’ve got I mean I suppose when you walk into the room immediately you’ve got this kind of beginner’s mind that you’re just enjoying it enjoying the experience of being embodied enjoying the personal

Challenge and I just remember kind of laughing at what I couldn’t do which laterally you know like in my soul you know certainly wasn’t the case I wasn’t laughing compared to people that could do things that I couldn’t do at all you know it’s very sad you know but

Nevertheless it’s part of the process looking outside until we realize there’s nothing outside that will add a one iota one one thing extra to the experience of what we are already right and it will only make us sadder because we’re trying to keep those experiences the same in order to experience

Ourself as we are because you know because those things need to be pinned around us to give us a sense of self but of course they slip and slide and move and then the the sense of self is problematized you know if your role slightly shifts or you don’t have this

Or that or you don’t have the car or the yoga postures s like a film star you know the car the ladies the yoga postes anymore then what are you now you know if your density is pinned on the outside but all this stuff is very obvious isn’t it you know

Nevertheless we probably don’t think about it all the time because again not our fault and what the beauty of yoga is that it doesn’t point the finger and say well this is your fault like you know Christianity what I grew up with or Catholicism or whatever you know you’re

To blame for this you know yoga just says this is the mechanism you know this is the the world you’re born into and this is the body you’re born into and it has these things pertaining to it and it all hey wait a minute it has this whole

This old bag that you’ve been given on birth called karma you know you’ve inherited it through parents or if you believe in reincarnation you’ve inherited it through the a kind of conglomerate of all the of all the energy that’s come through you know which it seems like a you know in the

First place a more reasonable idea than just thinking you just popped up out of nothing and came to nothing I mean Krishna says in the bagita what then did the world get created on lust because I mean otherwise you know if you don’t accept any idea that you know there’s

Something that continues and you know which is basic physics isn’t it l no energy just comes and goes nevertheless we kind of think that you know oh it’s a sperm and an egg created us well well yes I mean maybe that’s what happens when you look at the bits but you know

Were we just created by lust of our parents you know is that the significance of a human life you know I would suggest that there’s a long train of events yeah but you know of course we don’t know um and that’s a bit of a diversion and we’re coming back to

Realistic expectations for some reason we got very way Aid there realistic expectations on practice are essential so if you start comparing yourself to other people as I did for years oh I need to do leg behind head oh I need to do a better jump back or lift up or you

Know something I was obsessed with list lifting up to the handstands and stuff from NASA or from seated positions you know um and you know you want to do that and you think when you get that they’ll be happy but of course let me tell you for nothing it’s not you know you

Doesn’t make it I mean I managed to do some I managed to do most of the things I wanted to do wasn’t any happier at all in fact in lots of ways unhappier because then you feel like well there’s something you have to hold on to you but

On the other hand you have to go through it to realize just like a rich person can tell you oh you know money doesn’t matter but when you’re here you know here I’m not super poor but you know when you’re here without much cash you know struggling and you know and still

Feeling like you need to make a dollar you know you think well money is a bit of an answer you know you know then you realize you you get there oh you know don’t feel any happier same with yoga some certain ways you have to go through

It to in order to know that it doesn’t make any difference the postures but that’s again and aside realistic expectations the obvious as I said in the post recently pick ones that aren’t too high don’t compare yourself with another I’ve been teaching for so many years now and I’ve looked around every

Workshop I’ve done at all these different bodies and just thought how can we even compare these bodies to one another they’re so different yeah I mean of course you have certain body types yeah but they’re so different it’s not even comparable it’s like going well what’s your bet what’s a what’s a better

Fruit is it an apple or a peach it’s like well you know how can you compare the two fruits you know you just be the best best peach you can be that’s a bit sappy isn’t it but you know that’s the point you know you can canot compare yourself to what another

Person’s doing just doesn’t make sense you know you look get up one time after my store and look around at all the different bodies and the way they moved and you’ll realize looking from from because you don’t usually do that if you’re just a student to to look at

Everyone you know but when you do you realize God how could I possibly compare my body to someone else’s anyway what point is there anyway so realistic expectations pick your own and don’t pick things too high because you’ll just be disappointed and then you’ll feel like quitting yeah and

The last thing basically you need to continue this ASA stuff until it kind of shows you enough that well maybe you don’t need to use it so so well how would I put this so so effortfully so so so can you don’t have to spend so much time and

Effort on it you know once you’ve got the point I think that then you can you know use ASA keep the body conditioned also shift to you know other things reading reflective books scriptures whatever is your thing Pras meditations you know it spreads outwards I think it ought to

Spread outwards right it’s after after all aanga yoga apparently so you know but but until then yeah concentrate on the As and you need it till you don’t need it and I I I absolutely needed it for so many years just to stay on program you

Know coming I mean I said this before I think but but coming from a background of you know just basic addictions you know like anything I did i’ would get addicted to I still have that propensity you know whether it’s alcohol you know when I went to University I was drinking all

The time you know and I just I was in a bad place smoking 30 cigarettes a day and then I do something else and I become you know it’s just that you know certain people like my myself just have there a burning feeling inside just really need something to it’s just like

Almost like I felt like just a Purify my insides you know so much discordant energy crazy energy circulating and I needed it and I don’t feel that anymore maybe it’s just a age maybe it’s the practice you know I’m never going to make any claims about anything because I

You know I haven’t got a control you know I haven’t got a me that didn’t do it yeah all I can say is what’s what seems to maybe be the case with me anyways pick those expectations and don’t set yourself ones that too high because you need to do this continuously

And regularly until you don’t need it anymore yeah um coming back to motivation right you know I know we’ve taken a lot of tangential leaps in this podcast motivation yeah it comes and goes don’t expect to be motivated the same way you in summer as winter for

Example right your body’s going to be stiffer in the cold it’s going to be dark you know it’s just that time is just a keeping it’s just like keeping the spark alive and then you got spring you got summer it’s like well you know more much more Yang you know much more

Yang kind of like developing evolving maybe making a little progress and then winter just nurturing keeping things going you know keeping it ticking over you know and this is the same with phases of one’s life you know obviously Parenthood being the obvious one I mean I’ve not had kids but I just only

Imagine what happens when you try and contain continue a practice and have children you know it’s like everything probably goes south pretty fast I’m sure I know from the experience of my friends and students so you know that’s a time just doing a little bit is amazing you

Know but don’t let the spark go out all together because it’s really hard as you know to start a fire from scratch you know if you ever had a fire in your house what I did when I was growing up you know um you know it’s hard to start

It but when gets going just keeping it going you know and smoldering Embers those Embers and then you know put something on it and it quickly catches fire again same with practice do a little bit every day could just be getting out the mat doing something

Again yeah but don’t let it go out all together yeah and and don’t let yourself be unmotivated right I mean how would I that’s not quite the right turn of phrase don’t let yourself be dejected or despondent by setting your goals goals too high biting off more you can chew or

Getting stuck on a posture how many people have I known that have gotten stuck on karner or something like it’s particularly cppo isn’t it or or maybe leg behind head or you know there’s a couple of points where it’s almost stopped them practicing all together yeah because of this dread or or

Frustration or disappointment around those postures well come on you know just take it out for a while you know you’ve got to stay motivated and whatever it takes to keep motivated with this practice do it yeah if it involves less jum backs do that if it involves

More jump backs do that it involves taking out a posture for a while adding something in just something different that gives you a littleit you know couple of handstands here or there that gives you a bit of motivation or whatever is your thing you know taking it slower taking it faster putting music

On I mean I remember practicing you know many years ago I did a teacher training with John Scott his first one ever John Scott’s a well he’s a kiwi teacher but he was in London for many years and I remember being surprised he after um going through uh teaching us in the

Morning he would do his own practice and sometimes I would do practice with him there just me and him amazing experience but he would put music on quite often put music on and we would do that with music and that’s you know and that’s you know one of our you know

Leading old generation myo teachers right so you know you don’t have to be so rigid and and formulaic about it and you know what’s traditional in the first place you know make there’s nothing worse you know than feeling despondent and wanting to quit whatever it takes to

Continue a practice do that rather than quitting and then other things careful use of social media right if you’re using too much social media that can kind of put you off right because it’s like oh it’s a bit sickening for one seeing me too much and and and secondly

You know you’re seeing all these people that can do all this stuff and they may be young because usually young people can do stuff you know and uh it’s just like oh God you know and then you get on the mat yourself you know that’s pretty

Disining if that’s a word um you know so skill for use of that you know maybe less generally for most of us or sometimes you know when I started practicing in the early days we didn’t have social media so I would just use YouTube and I would look at things that

Motivated me like uh you know sherat talking and mice or this is when shat Pabi Joyce was still alive or Babi Joyce talking or you know or shat practicing or you know just something for a couple of minutes that would get me in the mood

You know um coffee uh yeah I still use it it does help um too much coffee obviously doesn’t help and well it’s on you know it’s certainly um not ideal let’s say um I know they always said in my saw more coffee more Prana or

Whatever it is or no coffee no Prana but in first place they’re using coffee cut with chory which not only only balances the uh the acidic levels of coffee but it’s less strong you know it’s a lot less strong okay we could move on from the sugar quantity in there but

Nevertheless I believe on good information that shat doesn’t even drink coffee anymore so it’s something I’d like to quit but you know it can help um other motivating factors well you know over the longterm set long goals don’t set short goals don’t judge one practice as you know look one

Practice over a year of practice means very little just sometimes you just got to do it not think about it and you know I’ve often moved through the practice and thought well you know that was bad at the start bad at the middle and bad

At the end I’m just pleased to have done it and I can’t think of anything good about that experience you know and that happens you know but reflectively you know when you look back some of those practices were quite meaningful for you and certainly meaningful because you

Kept on and it gave you a more confidence that you can keep on even when you don’t want to keep on even when the mind tells you the senses tell you no this is the whole point taking back our autonomy from the natural world and our bodies which don’t want to give it

To us which want to lead us by the nose through life and and and and basically um you know allow us to go into our most repetitive most anal instincts possible you know and we’re taking back our responsibility and you know deciding for ourselves what we want to do you know so

Some those practices are really confirm back to yourself okay I do have the strength to resist I do have the strength to to make my own decisions up even though my body tells me no and you know sometimes that’s hard because sometimes you should listen to the body

And sometimes you have to override you know what you feel like you know in the most obvious sense so that call can only be made by yourselves um I think with our stranger practitioners generally there’s a level of discipline there already that you know probably we should

Be taking it easy on elv rather than overriding um those kind of feelings in the body you know as I’m speaking to a certain audience I think so yeah I mean it long-term goals not short-term goals you know one practice does not matter a rubbish practice does not matter and a

Good practice doesn’t matter you’re seeing yourself over a long period and keeping up the practice is the point because in the end you know as David Swenson said you know you’re looking for a sign you’re getting better you’re looking for a sign that you’re getting

Better and in the end you look you find find a sign Oh Yes actually you know over you know when you get to my AG you know starting to get a bit worse or a lot worse but so it’s keeping it up you know and it doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy

It as much you enjoy it more you enjoy it more honestly doing less and feeling more and having something and the gestures become more meaningful the more you’ve done them it’s like you’re building up layers of meaning in the in in the body in what you’re doing it

Becomes so poignant to use a word that maybe if you’re non English speaker maybe you don’t know so significant so so that each gesture can become imbued full of meaning you know and that’s what you should feel you know not every again not every time sometimes just like well

You know I don’t feel it I’m not feeling it and I’m just going to do it anyway and yeah you know you do have to sometimes just make your mind like a robot yeah other times you have to listen and I can’t you know I can’t be

There to tell you when you should or shouldn’t practice that’s a tricky one um but I think if it goes on for a period of time you just don’t feel like it then you know you need to look at the diet you need to look at your general

Lifestyle you need to look at get some checkups you know just to feel like you know okay is there something wrong here you know is it practice that’s s not suiting me is it the way I’m practicing not suiting me you know because aanga can be practiced by anyone but you know

Certainly you know not anyone if you want to just crash through a primary in a second series every day or practice for hours or push yourself that can’t be done by anyone and certainly can’t be done by by an older person you know so some it’s not aanga you know there

People say oh you know I don’t think aanga is right for me it’s like well you know it’s like saying I don’t think yoga’s right for me it’s just yoga asanga it’s just like if you like to flow if you like to connect postures if

You like a focus on the breath then you know asanga is great you know and it can be and doing it the doing itself the literal application can look like anything you know you can do ashang in the yin style you know very very slow and a few postures the same Ashtanga

Method or you can do Ashtanga in the traditional style with the account as it normally is you know so yeah it’s not it’s not the fault of Ashtanga which is just essentially yoga in the end but if something goes on too long you know and you’re not feeling

Inspired you know look at it and change something you got to change something maybe it’s an injury maybe it’s something you need to look at maybe you need to seek a a a second opinion or a third opinion on on what you’re doing or or just on your health generally

Often it’s uh you know it can be around diet you know if you’re if you’ve adopted a vegetarian or vegan diet for many years and maybe that’s not working for you anymore you need to look at that again as ethically sound as that is you

Know that can be the case for and I think increasingly people are feeling that you need to just introduce some sense of protein or now and again maybe just eggs um right um finally I think with the practice the last thing I wanted to say is that keeping a consistent time

And place makes it so much easier and having a few things around that kind of remind you of it you know um like a you having something in front of you doesn’t have to be a picture of Pabi Joy or shat something meaningful whatever that is

For you yeah um just as a as a focal point being in the same space you know how hard it is to practice when you’re not in the same space right when you’re moving around and how hard it is to get started you know um so that really helps

You know having a consistent kind of rhythm of lifestyle and you know and I think yoga works best if it’s structured around the kind of Rhythm of Life style because if you’re Here There and Everywhere and then you’re trying to practice and your life is too chaotic

Then that I think needs to be looked at first you know alongside the structuring of the as you know otherwise you’re doing this semi stimulating practice and then the life is also stimulating and you end up more stimulated and I’ve talked about that before I think and I

Shan talk about it too much today that you know practice can easily over stimulate you where it’s meant to be stabilizing you know and making making basically making the Consciousness your Consciousness clearer you know clear of emotional biases and prejudices and uh and you know various desires that keep

On uh confusing us and distracting us from from the essential question which is you know and the essential question since we’ve we’ve been born is what is it that’s going on here basically you know and in our postmodern worlds we just don’t want to ask you know we we we

Even forget to ask that anymore it’s like well you know who cares or you know I don’t know you know but that that’s the question I think ultimately behind all our desires and all our likes and our dislikes and everything we’re doing you know it still comes down to that

Same question as it ever did so yeah find a place which which stabilizes you you know and then that place is kind of when you get in there to that place to do your practice in the morning you can remember yesterday’s practice and the day before and you think well I really

Don’t like it you know like it today I don’t want to do it you know I don’t feel well I always used to feel like I didn’t feel well before doing it know every time almost you know I don’t feel well and maybe I shouldn’t do it today

But you remember yesterday and you think well I had the conference and the perseverance and the strength to continue yesterday and it worked out it worked out for me and then the next day you get there and you have that Bit Stronger because of the same association

With the space with your mat yeah with the the icon you can travel with this icon you know whatever it is to put in front of your mat that helps as well right if you have to travel if these days we moving around so much right so

That that thing happens as well because you’re building up self-confidence you know and that’s the last thing I suppose I wanted to say is I think you know for me a great deal of it was just building that that self trust that self-confidence that if you put your

Money you put your money somewhere that’s where your mouth is is that’s the right way to say you know you what you say you do yeah and for a long time I struggled with discipline let’s say you know as everyone does in a TJ teenager in early 20s and living this bad

Lifestyle as I told you I you know doing all bad things and no not too bad but you know like not living a disciplined lifestyle anyway um and I didn’t have any confidence anymore you know like I couldn’t be bothered you know if if you know school work and Essay and

University work and you know I didn’t have any trust that I would follow through anymore yeah I if I did something I would carry it through and that’s a big deal so I think ultimately what yoga gave me back is that sense I’m going to do something and I can stick to

It I can have the confidence to do something that’s hard yeah because life is all hard you know and if you don’t pick your own difficult challenges they’ll just be given to you it’ll just be generally hard you know so you have to pick your own difficult ones yeah and

And and and you have the confidence to stick to them yeah but also you have to know why you’re doing it because if you don’t have you know if you’re just doing it because you feel you ought to or just doing it for the sake of of Cosmetics

For a body or you know it’s never enough you have to pick a deep the most meaningful thing approach as you can and keep and keep making that more meaningful right because we’re looking for meaning and and we’re always going through it now you know because you know

You don’t get up every morning early early morning in the dark and practice just for the sake of a good body I can tell you in the end that where is thin you know do you know what I mean like or the sake of putting your leg behind the

Head or for the sake of any series or whatever you know or belonging to even belonging to the Ashtanga Community you have to find that meaning in yourself to continue so that’s the constant thing in the end you know it’s say listening to the whole thing it’s kind of as we say

In English money for old rope because in the end it’s a search for meaning because it’s the meaning behind it and the understanding of the even if you don’t The Continuous mining or continuous search for building up that meaning that can that goes hand in hand with the doing

Yeah and the doing reflects some meaning and then you’ve got that Lucidity in the mind to keep up practice through the meaning you’re engendered and it’s kind of like a positive spiral and then then we can go into negative spirals you know so easily in life you know if you don’t

Have a positive spiral you end up usually being in a negative spiral right you know nothing you know has a meaning into it so you don’t take care in the life so that reflects back to you a lack of me meaning and you know you go in

This negative Ching or you know you don’t trust yourself so you don’t follow through so therefore you don’t trust yourself therefore you don’t follow through right same all you know so you’re breaking that spiral with yoga yeah and it reasserts you every day when you’ve done it yes I’m going to choose

That light path you know I’m going to choose the path of of uprightness and and being and doing the best thing I can for myself and for everyone else around me and for the world rather than just resorting to to the darkness inside us which is always there for all of us as

Well and just choosing the the bad path you know I think in sometimes you know although it’s a little bit a little bit Heaven hell isn’t it you know you know is is as simple as that polarity you know when you can make better choices and you know when you’re going with that

That darker element inside you to make the worst choices or worst choices yeah so in the end just keeping on searching for that meaning trying to make better choices but not blaming yourself either when you don’t fulfill those choices just get on the m and have another go

The next day yeah yeah there’s no praise or blame it’s all coming together in the end for all of us and we’ll all get there in the end no kind of certain of that anyway I’m wishing you the best most successful most meaningful new year

That you can have and if it doesn’t turn out that way that’s fine too because it’s all heading in the right direction for us all anyway for me only today like ke and yoga have a great start to the new year and if I don’t see you online the my saw

Class perhaps I run the my store every day online Remember come and join it anytime just pop in one time that’s fine maybe I’ll see you in a workshop this year I’ve got loads of workshops in Europe um and some elsewhere in gor purple valley and Thailand coming up and

Blah blah blah so yeah lots of places to see me and meet me in person if you fancy it or just pop in online one day and say hello anyway for me from now from Australia today from a rainy Melbourne it’s signing off and goodbye have a great day

9 Comments

  1. The Great composers of music…soft hands on the key board …soft feet on the pedals …know your scales and music happens…! 🎶❤

  2. Adam thank you so much 🙏 especially when you discuss about winter. It has been hard for me to complete practice body feels cold and takes longer to warm up.

  3. Thanks for doing this podcast…I’ve really enjoyed your content…looking forward to what you have in store for 2024 ❤

  4. Wise words as always. I like the bit about not worrying about ‘good’ practices and ‘bad’ practices but taking a more holistic, long term view. PS looking forward to the one where you answer the meaning of life 😊

  5. Brilliant. Thank you Adam, just what I needed to inspire and motivate me. Listening to this in the evening has made me quite excited to get on my mat in the morning 🎉😊❤

  6. I’ve been reading Adam’s book – ashtanga yoga a teachers companion – its very inspiring and I’d highly recommend it for everyone. Just the motivation needed for this time of year 😊🎉👍👌

  7. Thank you Adam for this fantastic talk. Everything you said holds so much truth and needs to be heard. As a late starter (started at 40) i'm quite happy that I was able to skip most of the pit-falls (but not all) and look at it from a (hopefully) more sensible perspective. I believe the "why" is so important. If you are spending so much time and energy on something you better have a very clear and definite "why", otherwise you're just doing things because you think you 'should', and/or others told you so. So: why do you practice? If it makes you feel good to practice every day: great! If it makes you a depleted, sleep deprived nervous wreck, then don't. As you said: yoga is supposed to make you feel better, not worse.
    .
    You were mentioning different body types and the issue with comparing yourself to people with vastly different bodies/ages/abilities than yours. What I would like to add is that as a highly sensitive person (hsp) I have learned that my nervous-system is already very sensitive, too sensitive for a daily asana practice, as doing so will overstimulate my nervous-system very quickly. This is not something you see from the outside though, but to me it’s very clear. And it’s not unique to my situation, as there are many hsp's running into the same issues with the Ashtanga practice (most of them stop altogether). Doing Ashtanga asana makes you more sensitive, which is great for many, but it can backfire for people like myself who are naturally already very sensitive. Knowing yourself and giving yourself permission toe adapt your practice accordingly is key.
    .
    As an aside; you touched on it briefly about not feeling happier having mastered a certain posture or series. Something I find it a bit disturbing is that there often seems a sense of ‘gold at the end of the rainbow’ idea: just as long as everyone just follows the ‘tradition’ and does asana every day at crazy hours – regardless of body-type, age, jobs, kids, internal makeup, trauma etc – they will be rewarded with some sort of magical, liberated state of being. Well, that’s not the way to go about it, is it? Yes, having a steady asana practice can do wonderful things for you and help develop yourself on a personal and perhaps spiritual level, but there are many more ways to go about it, which are probably more efficient. In that sense, I love what Eddie Stern said in one of the online conferences: Ashtanga should be regarded as ‘a practice’, not ‘the practice’.
    .
    Keep up the great work. Wishing you a wonderful 2024!

  8. Thank you Adam for this. Much needed at a time when I am grappling with my practice and spiraling generally. To remind myself of the habits I could quit, how yoga had improved my health years ago, how my anxiety and depression had eased out, is everything I needed to have a renewed sense of purpose and commitment. Thank you ! 🙏💜

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