I know, I much prefer pictures of the beach than these steep stairs.  But that’s what discipline feels like to me sometimes, steep sets of stairs you climb over and over again.  And it’s good to be reminded as we head back to work.

You take the steps to your desk, your laptop, your place of work, and find your way.  Habits are like muscle memories, and after a time, you start to do the heavy mental lifting without thinking.  You start to know where you’re going.  It gets easier.  And it’s always worth it.

Creating a discipline is good to think about at the start of September.  Even with the labor-free holiday, it’s good to get some work in.  Otherwise, we remain beginner’s, always stepping back to the starting blocks instead of pushing further.  Always expecting it to get easier, but it can’t when we’re always beginning.  The steep steps of resistance have to be climbed for awhile before they get easier.

I ask my students, “Just where do you want to grow?”  With practice, we know.  Yoga and Pilates are inner ways of knowing, ways to climb stairs of consciousness that build the muscles of your awareness.  We become willing to take the stairs instead of looking for the quick route.