Practice rhythms

[liminal_luke]

I`ve always valued consistency in practice.  Once I decide to do something, my ideal is to do it for every single day come what may for the next 100 days, ten years, the rest of my life.  Yesterday a teacher challenged my consistency fetish.  She said that what really works is pulsation: do something for awhile, stop for a bit, pick it up again.  

 

Thoughts and opinions?

[cold]

The best laid plans ...

A Daoist would be flexible, would they not ?

Living in that moment of awareness.

 

Shedding tears for dead and dying Geese

Expanding understanding with a smile

Back to practicing kindness

[Miffymog]

For me to answer that, I'd ask myself what were my own experiences in regards to this. My kind of character is definitely of the 'consistency fetish' and I'm actually quite happy repeating the same thing time and again.

 

However, when I evaluate a spiritual practice, I always find it helps comparing it to learning a musical instrument, as the dedication required is of a similar kind, but the results in music are for more obvious and external. For me to get a proficient level of music, where I can just pick up my instruments and play to a standard I'm happy with took 2 years of practice 20 hours a week (2 hours weekday evenings and 5 hours Saturday and Sunday). Once I'd got to a level I was happy with, I suddenly lost all interest and didn't pick up my instruments for months and months.

 

It took a lot dedication to get to a level I wanted and this time was sometimes really quite solitary, but it paid off. Now though, I hardly play at all, except at Christmas when I practice a little bit so I can play some Christmas tunes for my nephews.

[thelerner]

I wish I had more consistency and sticktoitiveness in my life.  Consistency tends to be at the heart of learning. 

 

Though lately the exercise program I'm doing stresses listening to your body.  Keeping a relatively low heart beat, for me 130, a pace where repair keeps pace with effort.  So I'm working out most days instead of needing as many rest days.   Leaving the exercise floor, feeling strong. 

 

Still, the old demon Laziness is waiting.. waiting for me to justify more rest days and avoid doing what I need to. 

[Rocky Lionmouth]

I'm consistent with 6 days out 7 working by a kind of "do one routine all the way at least", but intermittently. My vice is do-it-right-or-dont-bother so if a day, week or month doesnt leave time or if i'm feeling unwell, i stop for a bit. Hard work, solid rest and no fear of downtime.

 

I rationalize by thinking that i've stayed with the same teaching and style for ten years and plan to keep it up to my dying days, a little rest now and then is probably just good for me.

[Rishi Das]

Life is always shifting gears and moving in different directions. Nature itself points to this truth through it's constant changing. I resonate with your Teacher's words because I have started challenging my notions that consistency is the end all be all. While I do have some daily rituals that are important to me, from a broader view, my practice is ever evolving. I'm finding that I have to give myself the space to grow. 

 

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf." - Muktananda

Edited December 10, 2016 by Rishi Das

[liminal_luke]

Life is always shifting gears and moving in different directions. Nature itself points to this truth through it's constant changing. 

 

I like this.  Maybe I can see it like a yin/yang thing.  Periods of yang practice followed by periods of yin rest to integrate what I learned.  The tide comes in, the tide goes out.  

[steve]

For sure, our lives play out in cycles at many levels.

In artistic endeavors, I've always found that taking a break and coming back after some time is a very good thing for creativity and productivity.

I think it applies in the spiritual world as well. 

Too much focus and effort over time leads to burnout, staleness, can even lead to bitterness.

I think it's healthy to be able to read ourselves, know when we need a break, and act on that in a timely fashion.

[Papayapple]

Though thing.

It always seems like consistency is crucial, but only until some time passes and you start to crave all the benefits at once. Even though there is so much progress unfolding.

 

 

 

However, when I evaluate a spiritual practice, I always find it helps comparing it to learning a musical instrument, as the dedication required is of a similar kind, but the results in music are for more obvious and external. For me to get a proficient level of music, where I can just pick up my instruments and play to a standard I'm happy with took 2 years of practice 20 hours a week (2 hours weekday evenings and 5 hours Saturday and Sunday). Once I'd got to a level I was happy with, I suddenly lost all interest and didn't pick up my instruments for months and months.

 

I also play. And I write. And I know writing is usually just like working with anything else. Better to write 2 bars a day, in my case at least. Playing is like that too, and I'm slowly coming to a realization that no, I can't allow myself to try to "get" just a bit more juice out of that lick.

Once I become self-conscious and thoughts begin, it's pretty much over.

And I start to burn out and fall into frustration.

Better to stay non-expectant.

 

Or maybe it's different for different things?

 

If what you practice is supposed to be what you're gonna live off, then you'll probably want to be as "proficient" as possible, and not expecting that much more pleasure from it than from walking(not that it can't be super-fun right?).

 

But if it is something special, or when your income(health condition, mood, or else) may at some point not depend on it, then it could be a different thing.

Sadly, my experience is that the latter is just too damn hard, because of...  lots of things.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Tides is a good frame Luke!l

 

My teacher and brother and i were just recently discussing allowing oneself to have days when it seems when you're not doing anything that shows you've worked. Work is happening at those times also, it's just in a different gear. Those days are necessary for the continuation of your work. But it's frustrating because the familiar feeling of guilt or frustration that "a whole day has passed and what have i to show for it?!"

(I mean work as in not your regular 9-5, 5-9 job, but in the context of creative work or spiritual or practice etc, if you know what i mean?)

 

 

For sure, our lives play out in cycles at many levels.

In artistic endeavors, I've always found that taking a break and coming back after some time is a very good thing for creativity and productivity.

I think it applies in the spiritual world as well.

Too much focus and effort over time leads to burnout, staleness, can even lead to bitterness.

I think it's healthy to be able to read ourselves, know when we need a break, and act on that in a timely fashion.

Definetly. Many times returning after a yin cycle i even feel i've made progress while not practicing, as if improving a technique (at my job or with the other work) just needed a little time to marinate. Relaxation comes back easier, noticing error and room for improvement more clearly.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Rocky Lionmouth

[liminal_luke]

For sure, our lives play out in cycles at many levels.

In artistic endeavors, I've always found that taking a break and coming back after some time is a very good thing for creativity and productivity.

I think it applies in the spiritual world as well. 

 

 

 

 

My teacher and brother and i were just recently discussing allowing oneself to have days when it seems when you're not doing anything that shows you've worked. Work is happening at those times also, it's just in a different gear. Those days are necessary for the continuation of your work. But it's frustrating because the familiar feeling of guilt or frustration that "a whole day has passed and what have i to show for it?!"

(I mean work as in not your regular 9-5, 5-9 job, but in the context of creative work or spiritual or practice etc, if you know what i mean?)

 

 

 

Definetly. Many times returning after a yin cycle i even feel i've made progress while not practicing, as if improving a technique (at my job or with the other work) just needed a little time to marinate. Relaxation comes back easier, noticing error and room for improvement more clearly.

 

I`m just on the edge of believing this: that sometimes taking a break isn`t just OK, it can actually be better.  I jokingly refer to myself as a Type A Daoist, and this taking a break business doesn`t come easily to me.  It`s not that I don`t take breaks, because I do; it`s that I give myself a hard time about them.  I think I`m ready for a new perspective though.  I`m going to try to see my breaks as part of a natural rhythm rather than an occasion for self-recrimination.  

 

Good practice follows nature.  Nature is never about an unrelenting push of yang.  Waves crash onto the shore and recede back into the sea.  Leaves fall in autumn and spring forth in, well, spring.  Shame is not the elixir of immortality. 

[Rishi Das]

I`m going to try to see my breaks as part of a natural rhythm rather than an occasion for self-recrimination.

 

Old habits die hard so be gentle with yourself and remember to stay mindful of self-shaming in periods when the 'tide is heading out'.

[Brian]

Not breaks but shifts in pattern.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Shame is not the elixir of immortality.

 

You have no idea how much i needed to read that, thank you.

Shame could be, at least in part, an elixir of accelerated aging and a damper of development.