There are, of course, deeper levels of dedication that I aspire to, but I have at least managed to develop the ability to get myself on the mat or cushion at least 6 times every week.
People who are having difficulty establishing their own practice with the consistency that they'd like sometimes ask me how I have so much discipline.
In thinking about it, I've come to feel that it is not so much discipline, but motivation.
In the Tibetan Buddhist meditation tradition, the first obstacle to getting anywhere with one's practice is called "laziness" - this doesn't mean any kind of laziness, it specifically means the thought "i don't feel like practicing today".
When i look into my own heart, it is not even so much a matter of "I don't feel like practicing", it is a feeling of "I'd rather be doing this, that, or the other thing". The things on my list of rather-be-doing might be tasks or chores, might be rest, or might be frivolous activities.
All of the "other options" that might divert my daily practice share one thing in common - that I think I know what they are going to get me, and it is something that I want.
If I'm distracted by work, for example, it's because I believe that by going to work, or doing work related tasks, I am going to receive money. If it's about some recreational activity, I have a projection about what kind of pleasant thoughts and feelings that activity is going to bring me.
When it comes down to meditating, yoga, or any other personal cultivation practice, I believe that the greatest bar to doing it consistently is that one either doesn't know what one is going to get - or else that thing is not considered a high priority.
The question that sparked this line of thinking for me today was like this: you're in a downward dog pose (or some other challenging posture) and you are starting to tire. You get very fatigued and decide it's time to come out of the pose because you "can't" stay in it any longer. If someone offered you a million dollars to just stay in the pose for a minute longer, do you think you could do it? Many of us would find the strength from somewhere.
When I apply this line of thinking to a daily cultivation practice, it seems to me that it wouldn't be difficult to maintain at all if one was being paid for it.
The truth is, though, that you will be paid for your cultivation practice, and it is worth more than a million dollars. Imagine that by spending 15-90 minutes per day, you could have access to the control over what kind of feelings take place in your body and mind. The various systems of yoga and internal development are offering nothing less. How valuable could it be to have the ability to be happy at all times? How valuable would it be to be able to see through to a deeper strata of reality so that you could make strong and lasting change in your world? How valuable could a healthy body that lasts till a ripe old age be?
To me, these things are worth more than a million dollars - and because I know this, I practice with great dedication. The "cure" for the first obstacle in Tibetan Buddhist meditation is called "developing faith" - the faith it means is just faith in the benefits of your practice. If you know that the practice is something that will bring you happiness - and that it has been shown to do so consistently for others - why would you wait any longer?
The higher levels of yoga become even more interesting - how fascinating could it be to go into a state of orgasmic bliss, just by meditating upon it? How fascinating could it be to enter deep meditation at will and have access to total peace at any time? How wonderful could it be to have full access to the intuitive abilities in a human mind? What else do you think might be possible?
Beyond all of these very wonderful goals, the tradition of inner training offers us a final one, which is perhaps the most important. It is said that the culmination of one's regular and persistent practice is the resolution of all spiritual doubt - because you see the truth directly.
With benefits like these, I can feel safe that I'll feel motivated to get on the mat and put love toward my practice again tomorrow.
