Discipline

 

If the river of life is kept uninterrupted then that very flow creates its own discipline…there is a discipline inherent in the flow of life.  One has only to look at nature to know how all its activities are perfectly disciplined. But this is not a discipline which is apart from living.  The act of living is a dynamic state. Life’s dynamism demands a discipline that comes into being in the very act of living.

Yoga, The Art of Integration, Rohi Mehta

 

Tapas, devoted discipline to grow spiritually, is one of the three pillars of Hatha Yoga along with Svadyaya (self-study), and Ishvara Pranidana (surrender to the higher Self).  This discipline of tapas requires tremendous energy and focus and cannot be fueled by only the willpower of the ego which seeks a security and continuity that is anathema to growth.  This is not a discipline that is imposed from outer commandments or obligations but is rooted in the deep longings of the soul.  These are the longings which give us the strength to expand into what is unknown, dark, and fearful, to continue when the outcome is uncertain, to take the courageous next difficult step.  In this way we are like acorns who have no knowledge of our potential to grow into mighty oak trees but only that the shell surrounding us is no longer comforting but stifling.  We break apart and reach into the darkness because it is what living fully requires of us.  .   

 

Rohi Mehta beautifully conceptualizes how the spiritual yearning to live more fully creates its own discipline.  It is not a harsh or punishing discipline in search of gain, recognition, outer achievements.  More like an outstretched hand from the beloved.  There is a gentle encouragement telling me that the smallest of steps towards my deepest intentions are good enough.  Taking days to rest is good enough and so is giving up if giving up means a letting go of reaching a outer imposed goal and the strength to take up the task again the next day.  In failing to be disciplined in the way I had hoped I am still on the path.  I cultivate courage, faith, and stamina, when faced with obstacles.  It is how I learn to be creative, find what is most meaningful, let go of what no longer is needed. 

 

Along the paths I walk near my home, there lay massive toppled trees whose root systems as large as small cars have been ripped up out of the ground from storms.  It is startling to see cow sized boulders so tightly woven between the tangle of roots that they too have been pulled out of the ground.  The long journey of those first tender shoots over the rock, apart for many years from the comfort of the soft soil, takes tapas which life brings forth in us we we may grow, heal, discover, live fully.