Sustainable Progress Meditation

I think it's safe to say most of us want to be further along our path than we are, but we can’t rush the end result. We face things where we are with what we have. But sustainable progress brings depth, it brings lasting change, lasting growth. It’s a letting go. Can we learn to be ok with where we are in the process? Can we learn to let go of trying to be perfect, of trying to have it all together? Can we learn to let ourselves revel in the process?

Transcript

There's an idea I've been meditating on recently.

Sustainable progress.

Spring is a great teacher of sustainable progress.

She teases us with warmer days and bird songs and then reminds us that we're not quite through yet,

Sending along a blizzard.

Spring won't hesitate to remind us to slow down,

Even to come to a full stop.

We may be ready for summer,

But spring is a great teacher of patience.

We can't rush the end result.

We face things where we are,

With what we have.

Everything in its own time.

The lessons in patience and sustainable progress require an overflow of humility,

Authenticity,

Honesty.

Things that are truly so challenging to embody.

I think it's safe to say most of us want to appear to have our lives more together,

More figured out,

Than we actually do.

But sustainable progress brings depth.

It brings lasting change,

Lasting growth.

It's a letting go.

Can we learn to be okay with where we are in the process?

Can we learn to let go of trying to be perfect,

Of trying to have it all together?

Can we learn to let ourselves revel in the process?

If you haven't already,

Find a comfortable position.

Sitting down,

Laying down,

Wherever is entirely comfortable for you,

However supported,

However many props.

Let yourself settle in wherever feels good for you,

And then let your awareness,

Let your attention come to rest on your own normal,

Natural rhythm and flow of breath.

Simply noticing how it feels.

Sustainable progress.

Sustainability doesn't just apply to our ecological footprint,

Though that's where we most commonly hear it these days.

Sustainability can apply to our work life,

Home life,

Even yoga practice,

Even this very position you're in here and now,

Whether seated or laying down.

Sustainability simply means to maintain at a certain rate or level,

To maintain,

To continue.

Consider where you are right now,

As you rest here in this pose,

In this position.

Can you sustain,

Can you maintain this physical position for five minutes,

Ten minutes?

Or if you listen closely,

Do you notice if you need to adjust yourself within the pose?

Can you add a prop to make it more sustainable,

Or perhaps remove a prop?

What would happen if you changed the position you're in entirely to make it more comfortable,

To make it more sustainable?

If you feel that pull,

If you notice some feedback coming from your body that maybe this position isn't the most sustainable,

Allow yourself space to adjust,

Empower yourself to adapt.

And as you settle again into your own version of whatever position you're in,

Continue to check back in with where you are physically.

If your experience in this position changes again and you need to adjust again,

Let yourself.

This is your space,

Your time to simply tune in.

And take a moment now to consider your work life,

Your home life,

Maybe even your yoga practice.

Are there areas that you know are not sustainable?

Maybe you work so many hours you're missing out on sleep.

Maybe you're the sole caretaker of your home,

Your children,

Your pets,

And the weight of responsibility distracts you from caring for yourself.

Maybe you have an injury that you tell yourself to push through without giving time to heal.

How long can you keep it up?

Our society doesn't like to move slowly.

Everything progresses at top speed.

Before we're even fully developed,

We're expected to know where we plan to go to college,

What we plan to study,

The career path that will define the rest of our lives.

There isn't time for us to simply be where we are.

But is that realistic?

Is that something we can maintain?

Sustainability is innately slow.

It builds over time.

It requires us to listen to where we are,

To work with our edge,

Rather than forcibly push past it.

It's gradual,

Sustainable progress.

Our society is forward thinking.

Look to the future,

Always moving forward.

But I often find it more helpful to look back.

It's easy to forget the past,

And yes,

The past can be painful.

But how can we learn from it if we choose to ignore it?

How can we truly move forward without taking the lessons we've learned along the way with us?

Sustainable progress can be easy to lose sight of.

Because it's slow,

The actual growth is often barely noticeable.

It happens without us forcing it.

When you think back on the past six months,

Can you notice where you've come?

What you've learned?

How you've grown?

As I was seeking out advice on my own yoga teacher training,

A teacher of mine explained the difference between an intensive 30-day training and a weekend-based training.

And she explained it this way.

An intensive training is great.

It's like summer camp.

You get to spend every moment of every day with like-minded people,

With nothing else to distract from the practice and philosophy of yoga.

But it's a high.

You leave,

You go back to your life,

And then what happens?

How much of that time,

Practice,

Conversation,

Really had a chance to sink in?

In a weekend-based training,

You get bite-sized information spread out over the course of several months.

The time off during the week gives space to let all the information sink in,

To get the physical practice in your body,

To integrate the philosophy into your day-to-day.

One is fast and fun.

Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

It has its time and place.

But the other is sustainable.

It creates a lasting foundation that can be maintained and built upon.

Consider what you've been learning in life lately,

Or how you've wanted to grow personally.

And from where you are right now,

Do you feel like you're making progress?

Now take a moment to think back with me.

Where were you in the process at this same time yesterday?

Chances are good you're at about the same place in the process,

But even still,

A whole day has passed.

In those 24 hours,

Did you spend time practicing,

Reading,

Studying,

Even just thinking on this thing during that time?

And what did you take away from that time you spent?

Now go back to where you were at the same time one week ago.

How much time have you spent in the last week working or even thinking on this new skill or area of personal growth?

Do you start to see a difference,

No matter how subtle,

Between where you are now and where you were a week ago?

Now go back to where you were at the same time one month ago.

Does the progress start to get clearer?

And go back further to where you were when you first started.

I bet when you approach it from that perspective,

Your growth shows much more clearly.

I bet when you look back on where you've come from,

You see a more noticeable difference.

You've put in the time,

Energy,

Resources,

And resources,

And it is paying off.

Now consider,

Did you notice yourself growing in that process as it was happening?

Even if you did,

I bet it felt like a long,

Slow process.

But as much as we want to rush the process,

We can't force ourselves to be somewhere we aren't equipped to be.

The only thing that can give us that is time.

Give time time.

Let yourself rest in the knowing that you are on your path,

Your own and no one else's.

Let yourself rest in the knowing that you are following the timeline of your own process with nothing to win but slow,

Sustainable progress.

Continue to rest here,

Meditating and contemplating on your own sustainable progress as long as you'd like.

If you're ready to continue on into the rest of your day,

Begin to deepen your breath.

Let your inhale fill your body a bit more with each round of breath.

Then take a full deep breath in and sigh it out.

And bring your palms to meet at the space in front of your heart,

To the process,

To the progress,

To the great strength it takes each and every day.

Reviews

Thanks, your style of communicating this important fact is so relaxed and on point. I'd also like to be way ahead of myself however I am not read for that path yet. Baby steps every day equates to growth.

Amazing, thank you for being you✨

Solid wisdom. Thank you 💕🙏🕊️

This is a great one! Thanks Chloe. 💟

Great contemplation but felt like more of a talk than a meditation. Still enjoyed the info. Thank you!

Deeply thankful for the immense internal shift you created in me.