Conditioning

Towards the end of our second week Rolf had the group do a journaling exercise. We had to write down three things that we were going to take from the retreat. My three things were the power of conditioning, intention and attractor patterns. Today I will address conditioning. 

How we meet the present moment of our lives is nothing more than the conditioning of our past. It involves anything we have experienced in our lives up to this point. Our conditioning is very powerful. Throughout the week I focused on the different aspects of my personality. I traced all of them back to pivotal moments in my life or people who shaped me. Some of this conditioning helps me greatly in day to day life while others cripple me and create pain. 

Part of the practice of yoga is waking up this truth and beginning to work with the painful areas. Through our awareness, we shed light on the painful areas and begin to unwind and understand. It is important not to take this conditioning personal and see it for what it is—just conditioning. The willingness to work with the pain inducing conditioning is the recognition that these patterns cause pain in our lives. This recognition becomes the intelligent thing to do. It is from this intelligent action that we develop wisdom and gain true happiness. 

It is day 30 of the Yoga Challenge. I have practiced 28 times in the last 30 days. I got back from Costa Rica on Saturday. I’m still enjoying the benefits of the amazing retreat. I feel super human in many ways but vulnerable in others. Every year the students in Costa Rica confirm my belief in the power of the human spirit as well as our innate ability to triumph over anything.