Ease and Effort

What is discipline from the yogic perspective? Why do we want to explore discipline or self-discipline more specifically and what does it give us? 

When I speak of discipline in yoga I do not mean the conventional aspect of strictness and obeying rules, I speak here of self-discipline in terms of overcoming our own resistance  and exercising our capacity, our will or intent to do something we set out to do. 

Now before we go any further, I want to address one thing. When it comes to the term ‘discipline’, this can often trigger many of us into the all or nothing approach.

For those of us whose tendency is to put our effort into things, practicing and establishing discipline can lead us to over-do things, to overcommit and be hard on ourselves, leading us to burn out in order to stick to what we’ve set out to do. On the other hand for those of us who have a tendency to favour ease and comfort, immediate gratification and so forth, implementing discipline can feel near impossible and a little like homework! 

This brings me to share an important message from the Yoga Sutra’s of Patanjali (a key yogic text on the Raja Yoga path influential to most practices of yoga we see today) on the balance between ease and effort.

Patanjali’s sutra 2.46 reads ‘sthirā sukham asanam’. This sutra translated from Sanskrit commonly means ‘posture (asanam) should be stable (sthirā) and comfortable (sukham)’.
To delve a little deeper into each word;

 Sthirā translates to stability, steadiness, firmness, strength and effort. 

Sukham translates as gentle, comfort, joy, softness and ease. 

Asanam refers to the state of sitting, abiding, inhabiting our seat.

This is where we get the word ‘asana’ which we commonly translate to as ‘posture’ in Hatha Yoga (physical yoga practice) which refer to both the seat or posture we are inhabiting and as we can understand from this sutra, also the state of asanam itself which is a balance between sthirā and sthirā, effort and ease.

Ok so why am I sharing this?

Discipline requires us to go against the grain of our habits, leaning into our resistance and growing through the grit of what is challenging to us. 

For those of us who favour effort, then the aspect of ease, Sukham will take discipline to cultivate. 

For those of us who favour ease, then the aspect of effort, sthirā will take discipline to cultivate. 

What I'm trying to say is that discipline looks different to all of us and there’s not a blanket approach to how it will look like in action.

It’s not about forcing or pushing ourselves, it’s about resisting our tendencies and facing what we find challenging, it’s all relative. 

Discipline may look like having a lie in, going slow, giving yourself a break and taking it easy. 

Discipline may also look like getting up early, upping the pace, consistency and putting in a little effort.

As Patanjali states, the ultimate state of asanam (abiding not only our postures but our Self, the seat of the bodies and minds we inhabit) is an art of balancing ease and effort. 

So now we know what discipline is and what it can look like for us, why do we want to invite more discipline into our lives? 

Anything that is challenging leads us to growth and so discipline is understood from the yogic perspective as cleansing for the body and purifying for the mind. It ignites the fire of transformation that enables us to transcend our physical and mental limitations. It takes a lot of friction to create a diamond and discipline is that friction. 

The play of ease and effort gives us the ability to sit with that friction, to grow and see what we’re made of, to see what we’re capable of. 

In yogic terms it cultivates the fruits of  tejas, tapas and bhakti, terms we’ll explore down the road but in short, these give us the gifts of illumination, liberation and devotion.

Illuminating our path, liberating us from what stands in the way and giving us the devotion to choose ourselves each and every time.