{"id":6731,"date":"2025-05-26T02:24:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T01:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=6731"},"modified":"2025-05-26T02:24:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T01:24:02","slug":"volviendo-a-la-practica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/05\/26\/volviendo-a-la-practica\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting back to the practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have ever tried to meditate, you will know that the early stages of the practice consist mostly of focusing your attention on something (for example, your breathing), inevitably getting distracted a little while later, realising you got distracted and focusing your attention once more. Again and again, as many times as necessary, in order to progressively train your mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To all the expert meditators among you, who have already overcome that initial phase, congratulations! That is still a pending task for me, so I\u00b4m not able to tell you firsthand what happens afterwards (and I suspect it may not even be something you can express with words). But it occurred to me that this training of the attitude that\u00b4s needed for meditation can be applied to many things in life: the ability to quietly return to the path when we notice we\u00b4ve gone astray, without judging ourselves or beating ourselves up, simply course-correcting and continuing to move forward, without getting stuck in guilt, self-justification, complaining, or victimism.<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the thought that crossed my mind this evening, when I finally spent some time doing yoga after a very long streak of \"not having time\". Instead of going on about not having been practising (which, I confess, I tend to do quite a lot lately), this time I got myself out of that spiral, took out my mat and just started, without overthinking it. And it felt great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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(This photo is from the notes I got at one of the training courses I did with my first yoga teacher, back in the 1990\u00b4s. Thanks, Carsun!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I once heard or read somewhere a phrase that said something like practicing yoga is the same as not practicing it<\/em>, and I remember feeling quite confused by this idea at the time. How could they be the same? It didn\u00b4t make sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, as time went by, I found some meaning in it; I don\u00b4t know if this is what the author intended to say, but it did help me back then, and it still does. We know objectively that yoga has many benefits; some of them are more visible and immediate, like the flexibility and physical fitness it helps us to achieve, and others are deeper and more subtle, only appearing with continuous practice. Well, it turns out that, at least in my experience, the moment you become most aware of all those benefits is precisely the moment when you lose them, after having given up the practice. So, from that point of view, regardless of whether you practice yoga or not, you get to learn; you learn that keeping up the practice (or resuming it) is the best thing you can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u00b4d like to take this opportunity to thank all the yoga teachers I\u00b4ve had the pleasure to learn from over the years, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU (and apologies if I\u00b4m forgetting someone):<\/p>\n\n\n\n