The philosophies of yoga and modern science agree on many points about the nature of the universe. The main one that concerns yogis is the fact that things that are made of matter are in constant transformation and continual change. If you think about it, that is a huge revelation. All these things that we assume are stable, such as our bodies, our houses, society and so on, are actually in a state of never-ending change.

If we take that as an essential fact of life, then the next question arises: Changing into what? Nature is dancing her dance and creating change within us and all around us, but it all becomes a little scary if we assume that we are helpless in the endless march of birth and death, appearance and destruction. Actually, our gift as humans is the power to choose and decide, including the ability to try and direct our lives in the way we wish them to go. Obviously trying to make something happen is a whole other kettle of fish, and we will have to save that discussion for another post.

What does concern us is that we DO have the power to act and shape our lives and our development as humans. The practice of yoga has a grand goal: to make us the best and most vibrant people we can be. This will happen through the natural flow of nature, eventually. Yogis are a little impatient with the speed of nature’s transformation, and created yoga practice to speed up our development into higher beings.

It Takes Effort

If we are going to ‘take the bull by the horns’ and speed up our evolution by transforming ourselves consciously, it takes effort. This effort to transform intelligently and wisely is called ‘Sadhana’ by the yogis. Sadhana in Sanskrit means ‘to strive, to make an effort’, and make an effort we must if we are not going to be bogged down in the slow pace of nature’s change.

What we first must do if we want to embrace sadhana is to identify how we want to change and in which direction. If you want to change the physical body, you must find which areas need changing and then how you are going to go about it.

Once these things are decided, then you start the sadhana, which is a conscious and directed effort to reach your goal. For example, if you have acknowledged that you need to do more backbends to balance out your body, you need to do more backbends. Especially if there is resistance to backhanding, you are going to need to mobilize your willpower. This is done through the power of sadhana. In order to do more backbending, you create a sadhana where you pledge to yourself to consciously and actively do what you need to do to grow.

In this case of backbends, you might set your sadhana to be:

1. I am going to practice yoga at least 3 times per week.
2. Every time I practice, I am going to make an effort to do extra backbends.
3. I am going to follow this sadhana for 3 months.

Stay Committed to your Sadhana

Once you make the sadhana, you do your very best not to break it, and follow it the best you can. This might ask you to do things that push you a bit and may even challenge you when you don’t feel like it or don’t make time for yoga. However, if you follow the sadhana the best you can, you will definitely progress in backbends faster that you would without the sadhana. This is the best way to progress: make an effort!

Sadhana Shapes Your Life

The magic of sadhana is that it gives our growth and transformation a shape and a direction that it ordinarily would not have. This intent and directionality helps you to reach your goals faster and move forward in your life of glowing satisfaction.

A sadhana can be set for nearly anything that you wish to accomplish, such as practicing a musical instrument, doing art, meditating or doing yoga. Whatever you want to be, you can be if you have the drive and desire to become that. Use sadhana as a powerful tool to help you grow, change and transform into the person you wish to be. Make sure to write down your sadhana when you make it and keep track of your progress as you go and what you accomplish. Then you can see the success of your endeavors easily. Each successful sadhana makes the next one easier. Never give up! Om Shanti