A conversation that matters (pt 2)
“That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something.”
—- Meredith Monk.
Let’s continue to explore conversations that matter. Most traditional texts are written as conversation (the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are an exception which is a topic for another day). The conversational style mimics the student teacher relationship. And, hopefully, trains the conversation you’re having with your own body and mind.
What is your conversation like inside? How do you talk to your body? What does your mental chatter sound like? A happy hum? An anxious buzz? Do you direct your body like a dictator? Or explore with curiosity and wonder?
In the early days of yoga, most of us aren’t aware of our inner world. As your practice matures, your conversation with your inner world evolves and deepens. Hopefully, it also softens and sweetens.
But this is harder than it sounds because we are constantly being bombarded by media and marketing that’s preying on feelings of lack and not-enough, picking at fear and anxiety, poking at insecurities. So we need practice. And not just body practice, but mental-emotional-training practice.
This is where the Aligned Motives come in. The Aligned Motives are antidotes to common, disempowering and destructive inner stories.
For example, I came to yoga as a last ditch effort for treating depression and anxiety. And it worked. The practice changed my life. Probably saved my life. But, for years, I continued to identify with “I practice because something is wrong with me”. In the beginning, this was motivating and healing. Over time, it became disempowering.
When we practice with aligned motives, our inner conversation sounds something like this:
I practice out of love for myself. To connect with what is good, whole, and complete inside of me. I practice to know the truth of my being. I practice for the benefit of all beings.
It really comes down to carrot or stick. Most of us use a lot of stick in our inner conversation. The aligned motives are a soul-nourishing carrot.
How you talk to yourself is a conversation that matters. It will influence everything you do and the energy with which you do it. The Aligned Motives give you guardrails for staying true and staying connected to yoga - on and off the mat.
If you missed the Aim is Everything: Aligned Motives webinar, you can find the replay in your Virtual Library.
If you’re a guest member, watch the replay in your little (free) Virtual Library.
If you’re a paying member, watch the replay in the webinar section of the big Virtual Library.
May your practice evolve your inner conversation.
PS - know someone who’d like this? Please share. The Guest Membership is F-R-E-E and the little Virtual Library has 20-minute miracles, webinars, practices, and more.
