Cumulative Practice

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“Practice and all is coming.” - PattabhiJois


There is usually a mixed review on cumulative work when I speak about it in the 7th grade classroom. Cumulative work that is a culmination of bad ideas, practices, or grades, for instance, is not such a good thing. No one wants to have a whole heaping lot of bad things that follow them around and add up to their experience or affect their standing. However, cumulative positivity, whether that be intention or action…now, we are talking. 7th graders, well, everyone loves that.

One of my yoga teachers on Gaiam, Shannon Paige, expresses yoga as a cumulative practice. I agree and love this idea. How awesome to know that when you revisit various asana, kriya, meditation, scripture, daily or consistently, your body remembers, hold and processes the effort and intention you have placed into it! How wonderful to consider all the positive intentions that you set filtering your not-so-positive thoughts to a higher ground, leading you to better decisions or in the opposite direction.

Once you put it in, like food into the mouth, and it goes through the digestive system, it should come out. The yoga that you entertain, anything that you entertain, is not really a one time thing, though we might want it to be. The reason for its being is for us to see the deeper orifices. It has come for us to stretch the boundaries of time and space, to allow us, and God through us, to create anew.  

The more we build up our tank, relax into our bodies and fill them with love and positive intention and action, how much more are we able to dig into our container to access the things we need when we need them? I believe we are able to use what we cultivate. We can use only what we culminate. This is personal, as all spiritual work is. No matter how close you are to another person, though you may co-create with them, the ideas or practices you unearth will add up inside of you.

It is with practice that we fill ourselves. And the energy with which we practice is just as important. Do something with cheer, one result. Do the same something with dread, another. What you fill yourself with will be up to you, and the choice is up to you. Life is full of possibilities.

As for me, I practice yoga to bring more light into the dark places. I practice to excite my experience with the fruits of the Spirit. I practice for others and for their well being, for the well being of the collective, cumulatively.

Go well.


Sat Nam. 

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