Motivation And Svadhyaya

Your yoga practice is likely asana-centric: you mostly do yoga poses, on a yoga mat, based on classes you take. While this is only a fragment of the entirety of what yoga can entail, your relationship to your asana practice can (especially if you are curious and committed) direct you deeper into yoga.

I hear a lot about motivation from my students, as in, they lack motivation. While this struggle could get reduced to time-saving hacks (just practice for 5 minutes!), consumerism (purchase this new mat, you’ll want to get right on it!) or yoga-tourism (endlessly seeking the new, fun class or teacher), we can direct our thoughts to yoga philosophy instead.

Imagine that: use your yoga practice to address your yoga struggles.

While there is no word (that I know of) in Sanskrit that means “motivation,” the whole undertaking of yoga rests on the idea of svadhyaya: self-direction, self-governance.

Many conversations I’ve had with my students about motivation seem to ignore this. Instead, I hear a sentiment that describes motivation as some wild phenomenon, swirling about in the ether, that might sweep in and grace you with its blessings.

Once this belief about motivation is established, we become passive. We relinquish our ability to self-govern. We create a bizarre, unrealistic prerequisite for our yoga practice: that in order to practice, we require excited enthusiasm, or boundless inspiration.

Yoga doesn't work that way. Svadhyaya tells us  that we have to accept that we can create (or destroy!) motivation. Motivation is actually a discipline, an understanding of the efforts and outcomes.

Effort and Outcome

Think of it this way.

There are outcomes you desire. Yoga makes you feel calm, or relieves back pain, or some other personal reason.

You have the resources to create those outcomes. Online, in-person, self-directed, a book...there are many ways to find a yoga resource. Note: yoga is not equally accessible to every person, and the quality of what you can access is important. This is a large issue in yoga, and this post is not attempting to address this.

You enjoy ENJOY those resources. I’ve only had a handful of students over 20 years who did yoga begrudgingly. Most people who stick with yoga do enjoy it. I would say: if you don’t like yoga, life is too short, find something you enjoy.

But! You've created a prerequisite.  Before you do the thing you enjoy to get the results you appreciate, you need to feeeeeel like doing it. You have created your own obstacle. You think you require a certain emotional state before you get on your mat.

There are absolutely days when there is no energy, no time for your practice. Your health, both physical and mental, may be lacking. You truly cannot practice. That’s logical. But, beware the times of your life when you have time, you have resources, you have an appreciation for the outcomes but you to create a labyrinth of faulty reasoning about practicing.

Practice beyond motivation

Personally, I’ve taken motivation out of my practice. It’s just not an ingredient. Instead, I focus on two actions: I can edit my practice freely, and I can look at the long term.

If I’m too tired, I do a quieter practice. If I have energy, I head towards those handstands and take a vigorous class. If my day is too busy, I look through the week for an honest hour of time for my attention. If I’m injured, I design my practice for taking good care. Asana contains many options, apply as needed.

By looking at the long term, I can assure myself of sustaining health. I use asana for my physical health and comfort, stress relief, mental well-being and for expansiveness of perspective. If I cease my practice for weeks and months at a time, it is just that much more difficult to maintain the balance of my health.

If you don’t want to remove motivation from the accounting of your yoga practice, you don’t have to. But view it more helpfully. Let it accumulate and aggregate (just like physical capability, what a coincidence!). Let it be supported by realistic consistency. Let it merge with svadhyaya, so you make it a resource, not an obstacle. 

We have these conversations in my Essential Membership, where we practice asana, and guide with philosophy. We’ve also recently chatted about perfectionism, and I’ll share that soon.

And if you need a resource, head here for a short class on taking care of your aching neck.