sādhana

Mr. Iyengar, in Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, says that sādhana is a discipline undertaken in the pursuit of a goal and that a sādhaka, or practitioner, is one who skillfully applies mind and intelligence in practice towards a spiritual goal. Yogi Bhajan says that it is a committed prayer and something which you want to do, have to do, and which is being done by you as self-enrichment and not something which is done to please somebody or to gain something. He says sadhana is a personal process in which you bring out your best.

My understanding of sādhana is that it comprises the practices that you do each day to bring you closer to that spiritual goal. What that practice is each day might vary a little, but the idea is that there is a steady and continuous practice that you do in the service of spiritual growth. This might include meditation and mantra, asana practice, or any other ritual that points the mind toward liberation and enlightenment, but the key is that it is a regular, dedicated practice. For this reason, it is perhaps best to make your daily sādhana something manageable, and then, if one has the time and is feeling so inclined, more can be added to that practice, but always the basic practice is regular, whatever you have determined that to mean, and that the practice does not become mechanical.

For me, I endeavor to rise in the morning and light a candle and incense, before which I sit quietly for a few minutes. I intend for those minutes to be contemplative, conscious... you know, meditation, but this is not always easy for me. Still, I arrive before the flame and the smoke and I sit on my zafu in silence. Some days are more successful than others. Beyond this I try to do 30 minutes of asana practice each day. When I began, I tried to do 60 minutes of asana practice and found that I was not consistent. So, I dialed that back a little so that I might make it more achievable and thus more consistent. This seems to have helped.

In a perfect world, where job obligations and the like were not an issue, I would rise in the morning and sit before my candle and incense, then do 60-90 minutes of asana, then a coconut oil self-massage and bathing ritual, and then prepare and eat breakfast in a manner more fit for an offering. I would do this every day. This is my long term goal, but the mundane requirements of daily life often seem to get in the way of this and I haven't quite found my way around that...