Skillful Means Podcast

#8 Maintaining Practice While Traveling & Visiting Family

December 19, 2019 Jennifer O'Sullivan & Sarah Jane Shangraw
Skillful Means Podcast
#8 Maintaining Practice While Traveling & Visiting Family
Show Notes

Maintaining practice is a must for yoga and meditation teachers, as well as serious practitioners of all sorts who are interested in spiritual growth. Establishing and maintaining the habit of practicing regularly is often hard won. It doesn’t take much to disrupt a daily routine, so what happens when holidays arrive? What happens when we travel for work or go on vacation? How does our practice life fare when we are among family we rarely see, or who don’t understand—or worse, don’t value—our path? 

Knowing that consistency is key, we need to be clear about the circumstances that crowd out opportunities to practice or that tend to challenge our dedication, as well as the strategies that help us honor our commitment as practitioners.

In this episode we share our stories and approaches from standing meditation in the shower to practicing in airport corners and keeping the peace with family. We also consider issues around practicing in public (beaches and airports) and identifying and attending studio yoga classes in faraway cities.

Share your tips for maintaining your practice outside your normal rourtine on Facebook and Instagram, or send us a note at feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com. Tag us at @skillfulmeanspodast and we’ll share your tips with our listeners. 

Mentions:

Thanissaro Bikkho discusses how to work with challenging family members in his talk “Skillful Shelter” published on Tricycle.com.