Today I attended a secondary series workshop given by Ronald Steiner. If you have not been to any of Ronald's workshops yet, well - you have to go!

Among other things, I always find the philosophy talks very stirring. So I took some notes,mingled them with how I understood it and share it with you here.

Today Ronald took a bit of time  discussing the three qualities allowing for a more balance approach for any activity (in this case during yoga practice). These three qualities are:  motivation / enthusiasm / heat (tapas), self-study / self-observation (svadhyaya) and expressing life / divinity (isvarapranidhana). 

"The stae of balance" is rather a continuous seeking of balance (through these three qualities) - as nothing is ever in fully in balance but attracted to (more or less) one side of the poles (e.g. tight - loose).

For the yoga practice on the mat, it's meaningful to let those three qualities act jointly in oder to guide us in the process of seeking balance between doing too much (pushing to hard) and doing (what Ronald refers to:) wellness moves:

•   tapas (getting on the mat on most days of the week, a steady practice), 
•  aligning the practice with what feels good for us, what would make us more alive, 
•  all under continued self-study and reflection. 
  

Importantly, this aligning of those three qualities shall be applied frequently for it to be effective.  

Now, this is only talking about practice on the mat, those 30 - 100 minutes most days of the week.

But the yoga is not (just) the mat. For the most part is should be transparent during "the stuff" that's so abundantly happening outside the mat: Your job, your relationships, your communication with others and yourself, etc.  Bringing that tapas, svadhyaya and isvarapranidhana to all, how ever small, aspects of our lives! Waou. Sounds eternally challenging, yet utterly powerful, harbouring endless potential.

The mat is a safe playground to start from.

This goes back to something I posted on Facebook a while back, but the bhavans are at the very root of progress in our practice! Take some time to read and observe your practice.

The Bhavanas - these are the four qualities of the mind that foster growth in your yoga practice.

Have you ever heard that inner voice telling you "I can't do that", "I don't deserve that" or "This I don't like"? Chances are high that you have. These doubts are exactly what nourishes and feeds our inner obstacles to growth. These doubts, or unadventageous inner orientations, act sabotaging to our practice, as they lead us to not practice compassionately enough and make our energies dissipate and get distracted. If we want to cultivate progress in our (yoga) practice, we need to learn to substitute those unadventageous inner orientations with beneficial ones - and this is where the bahavans, the four qualities of the mind for progress, come into play: 
1. Empathy - for your own progress and that of others 
2. Friendliness - Towards yourself and others 
3. Encouragement & Passion - for the path of progressing 
and 4. Allowance or patience - having patience and trusting the progress and that things take time...

When we don't allow the cultivation of these qualities, progress in our practice is difficult. If we want to much and force things, we stay our own's worst critics, let perfectionism sabotage our progress, and possibly get injured along the way. If we slack and don't want enough, we will always find excuses and reasons why we cannot practice and our progress will stop.