Detaching and knowing how to settle, two simple, but not obvious, concepts that find full application in everyday life and practice.
This is a small reflection based on my experience of this period.
Since some months, a shoulder problem has significantly limited my practice. I'm used to practicing a pretty intense vinyasa sequence every day. I like it, it makes me feel good.
Having to give up, settling for alternatives, is not that simple and this is a serious mistake. Sometimes it is difficult to break away from routines, even good ones. Without realizing it we cling to our habits, because basically they give us serenity.
Practicing detachment - vairagya - requires great effort.
More generally, living fully a discipline, a passion or a relationship without being attached to it, may seem a contradiction. In reality, it is a strong signal that must make us reflect: do I live an experience because I really feel it, or simply because it has become a habit?
At the same time, we must learn to be satisfied - santosha - because in every situation, anyway, there is always an alternative. We can always and however do or live something that will make us feel good, we simply have to get out of our schemes and accept the change.
I replaced the vinyasa with a more static practice, using props and equipment, so that I could work with the asanas without stressing the shoulder, thus avoiding aggravating the situation and, at the same time, maintaining that intensity that makes me feel good. I discovered a new way of listening to myself during practice, I learned to devote more time to meditation when I decide not to practice because I feel that my body, at certain moments, would draw from it.
Sometimes diseases are blessings, they help us focus our attention better on our path. They lead us once again to reflect on concepts that we often take for granted (and in life one must never take anything for granted!).
An important lesson: sometimes to take a step forward, you need to take one back.
Jay