The Freedom of Discipline
Discipline gets a bad rap. It conjures up the notion of a child getting reprimanded or the harshness of an army sergeant. Even in the yoga tradition, you may see intense images of yogis starving themselves or practicing with such fierceness that they hardly sleep or seem to have any fun. But what if self-discipline was an act of loving-kindness? What if it was applied with gentleness and brought great joy and freedom? That’s how I use discipline and I encourage you to consider it the same way.
As the title of Stoller-Miller’s translation of the Yoga Sutras, “Yoga: The Discipline of Freedom” implies, self-discipline in yoga can lead to freedom. In fact, inner freedom is the ultimate goal of any type of yoga. And the tradition asserts that self-discipline is necessary to achieve higher states of mind and ultimate freedom. Yoga is about transformation; transforming our “negative” or disturbing thought and behavioral patterns into peaceful and pleasurable states. With transformational work, however, the results of our actions are usually more subtle and slower to come than with projects like house cleaning or studying for an exam. So it takes extra self-discipline to transform ourselves and a good dose of commitment to support that. In fact, studies now show that it takes 66 days of regular action to create a new habit. It’s our commitment and self-discipline that will keep us showing up for those first 66 days, especially when we’re not seeing immediate results.
There will always be laundry lists of reasons we create that we “cannot” discipline ourselves today, from chores, to phone calls, emails, work projects, distractions, etc. And some of us have negative associations with holding ourselves to a fixed or rigid schedule, so we intensely resist the discipline. To experience your self-discipline as an act of loving-kindness instead of self-punishment, I recommend keeping your end-goal in mind. Remember that choosing your practice over the dishes or the work project is a choice FOR you. It’s choosing your heart and spirit over your pocket book or mental satisfactions. And I recommend applying your self-discipline with patience and gentleness, like you might sweetly guide a new kitten back to the litter box. Keep coming back to yourself, your heart, with patience, gentleness and loving-kindness. Remember that it takes time to create a new habit and that the rewards are vast for choosing transformation over habitual patterns. If you do, I bet you’ll see some wonderful results, that you’ll feel more inner freedom, and that your daily self-discipline will begin to feel like a special gift that you look forward to each day.
