“I believe we each possess an intuitive understanding that our limited self, created in fear and defined by suffering, is not our destiny…The aim of spiritual practice is to deliberately cultivate insight and to instil in ourselves the strength we need for courageous action.”

Day 338, Meditations from the Mat, Rolf Gates

Day 339 – Samskaras, the little impressions on our souls wrought by our thoughts, are an intriguing notion.  Rolf explains, writing:  “In yogic psychology, our predispositions, the contents of our character, are in a state of perpetual cocreation with our thoughts.” He also describes how these are like scratches upon the surface of a candle, and can be melted away by heat, whether through yoga, asana, pranayama, meditation, etc.  Through movement, breath, meditation, “we can move beyond our self-created personalities, let go of our self-limiting definitions, and realize our true nature.”

Samskaras predispose us to a similar thought pattern, which can become quite pronounced.  According to the Yoga Sutras, these are the “continued action of thought-waves, and they, in their turn, create new thought waves…the sum total of our samskaras is, in fact, our character at any given moment.”  This does not sound much different from “we are our deeds,” but in yogic philosophy, right action is predicated on deep inner cleaning.  And I don’t suppose that the Vikings meditated and reflected in such a way, but I would imagine there were other realities that commingled within this realm.

In 2018, I am working on thought-patterns.  I have discovered the world of bullet journaling and it looks fun, so I will start this out.  Planning is always the most fun!  In the process, I hope to illuminate and cultivate my better thought patterns and rid or decrease the unwanted thought-patterns and thus, continue with building well-being and diving back into dance full-throttle in 2018.