The niyamas all kind of coalesce together in the practice of svadhyaya, self study. When we take the time to do self study, we connect to our selves and those around us. What really fuels us? What makes us feel complete? What makes us feel like we are working to be better?

Moreso, what can we do to make sure that we really embrace and cultivate our svadhyaya? When we take the time to focus on ourselves, then we can share it more with others. And when we are more in tune with ourselves, we can then work on those habits and changing them so that our actions toward others aren’t harmful.

There are many ways I practice svadhyaya, but I feel like I have better ability to do this than many others since I have no kids. When you have responsibility for small people, I feel like your ability to focus on yourself as much isn’t priority one. But I hope that those who do have that responsibility are able to take time. If you’re not able to focus on yourself at all, that’s no good.

I feel overwhelmed at work quite a bit, even though I know that my boss is supportive and everyone knows that we’re understaffed. But requests continue to come in, and my new coworker is still getting it figured out. Plus it’s hard to explain how we have to spend a budget and why I can’t focus on you specifically and justify so much. The negativity was getting to be a lot. So when I had a chance to get away for a conference, it was a perfect time to connect my brain to why I keep doing this job. Being with like-minded people who have the same problems, but also with the opportunity to discuss solutions and the positives was so nice. I felt refreshed when I was back at work afterward.

On a personal note, I feel like taking this yoga teacher training has helped my svadhyaya more than anything else I’ve done. Even though I’ve done yoga for a long time and read some books on being in the moment and meditation, actually having the structure of a class and the accountability has really helped me focus on self study. What am I doing in my life that I could be doing better? How are my reactions unhelpful, or helpful? What am I doing for others that isn’t necessarily doing anything for me? And what do I need to do to maintain this after my program is over?

I’ve never been one to make long-term plans. There is too much spontaneity in life to adhere to a plan that doesn’t allow for opportunities that may come your way. That’s how I ended up in this class – I happened to come across it three weeks before the semester start, and I just decided to apply. I’m really happy I did, because this has been really one excellent, long-term way for me to practice svadhyaya.