This Is the Practice

Can you stay?

When things don’t feel how you expected. When you’re uncomfortable. When there’s boredom… frustration… impatience…

Can you stay?

In our lives, we’re constantly given this opportunity, not just on the yoga mat, but in conversations, relationships, career changes… in the middle of our own growth.

The opportunity to notice what states of mind are arising. To feel the urge to escape. And to pause. To stay, regardless.

It’s like you are the sky and everything else is the weather.

This is the practice.

°❀.࿔

The first time I went to Hawaii, I almost didn’t stay.

It wasn’t a normal vacation. It was a 10-day camping retreat in a remote valley with a spiritual community I barely knew.

By the end of the first night, I was paying extra for cell service just to look up flights that would take me home ASAP.

I had arrived jet-lagged and overstimulated. All a girl wanted was a warm meal, a soft bed, a long shower, and a little privacy.

Instead, I was assigned to a women’s tent with seven strangers, a thin sleeping pad, and a communal shower half a mile away. No door. No quiet. No control.

Lying there that first night, staring at the nylon ceiling, I remember thinking, “This was a mistake.”

Nothing was ~wrong.~ I was just uncomfortable. And I didn’t like who I was when I felt like I wasn’t in full control.

°❀.ೃ࿔*

The retreat leader kept telling me, “Pay attention to what triggers you. That is your medicine.”

At the time, I didn’t want medicine. I wanted comfort.

But what was actually bring triggered?

My attachment to convenience. My expectation of comfort. My need to feel special.

It wasn’t the tent. It was the part of me that wanted to leave the moment something didn’t match my preferences.

And that’s when I realized: THIS IS THE PRACTICE.

°❀.࿔

In real life, it looks like this:

The relationship gets vulnerable and you feel exposed. The job gets uncertain and your identity feels shaky. The healing process is slower than you’d hoped… etc, etc, etc.

And the mind says, “Maybe this isn’t right. Maybe I should leave.”

Sometimes leaving is wise. But sometimes leaving is just the ego trying to protect itself from growth. Learning to discern the difference? This is the practice.

°❀.ೃ࿔*

I stayed.

Not because I suddenly loved camping, but because I chose to watch what was being stirred up instead of giving in to the inclination to bolt.

And slowly, everything shifted.

I connected. I softened. I adapted. I realized I was more resilient than my first reaction suggested.

The growth came from staying in the discomfort long enough to see what it was teaching me.

°❀.࿔

So I’ll ask you again: Can you stay?

When things feel uncertain. When you’re not being catered to. When your expectations dissolve. When you’re tempted to abandon something just because it feels uncomfortable.

Remember who you are.

You are the sky and everything else is the weather.

Choosing to remain steady beneath it all – this is the practice. ❀