Growing a Practice

Planting a tree is an act of optimism. You plant your tree with a sense of trust in the future. You nurture the seed with hope, faith, and care, and protect it against the elements. Then you let it grow.

Growth happens naturally. You never push something to grow. The proper way to grow is by releasing growth.

Plant your tree when you begin your practice. Do it again and again, in manageable ways, and observe the details of your life. In time, a new green shoot will come up — you will have an insight, calm your anxious mind, or feel at peace with a challenging decision. Before long, a delicate new flower or fruit will appear. Just start enjoying the glorious fruit, or smelling the wondrous flower, and go on with the rest of your life.

Have faith throughout the summer, fall, winter, and spring, and allow your seeds to germinate and grow.

The message of yoga is simple: You have it in you. Everything you need is right here. All you need to do is to find out what it is by recognizing the possibility that there is something there inside, and then make a serious attempt to find it. But you have to change your direction from searching outside, and go within.

The most important understanding is to know that the temple of yoga is inside you. When you go to a temple or church, often it can be just one more “out there” experience, when in fact what you really need is a deeper “inside” experience. What is on the inside is much more trustworthy than anything on the outside.

True strength is in knowing who you are.

Maintain the wholeness of yourself within, and let the seeds of your life grow everywhere. Slowly, as your inner forces gather, a tree will form that will radiate outward and pervade the air. This is the tree that is your life. It is a beautiful achievement, a metamorphosis. And as you continue to unfold and become conscious of greater dimensions of wholeness, you will realize that this great infinite reservoir inside you has been there the whole time.

As Black Elk, the holy man of the Ogalala Sioux, recounts: “It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds.”

Check out our articles and videos in Self Help to start growing your practice!