Empowered Practice: Awareness Journaling Pt.1

I am currently working my way through a translation of one of the classic texts of yoga: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This book is not just for those on a traditionally “yogic” path, but for those who are interested in becoming aware of the contents running through ALL levels of their mind, and incorporating practices that help sort through it all: keeping what is serving your highest understanding and relationship to life and releasing what no longer is, making space for progressively greater peace in your life. Any text that is translated from Sanskrit can be challenging to read and perhaps more importantly, to integrate into daily life and practice, but I have found this version (Inside the Yoga Sutras by Reverend Jaganath Carrera) to be extremely readable and applicable! Thank you for the suggestion @larugayoga

One of the exercises he included to really ground the understanding of how our subconcious attachments can rule our minds and influence our lived experience is an awareness journaling practice, that includes three parts. As he recommends dedicating one week of attention to each, I plan to share the other two parts over the course of the next couple of weeks.

The preliminary part of any practice is to set an intention (in yogic practice we call this a Sankapla) and consider why you might participate: is it to gain greater Self understanding? To become aware of a particular pattern in your life? To get to the root of a particular trigger or tendency? Once you’ve considered this, I encourage you to write it or speak it out loud to solidify it within yourself. Then, you’re ready to start!

Part one of Awareness Journaling is comprised of simply PAYING ATTENTION to when you feel triggered or noticing when strong emotions bubble up (positive or negative). When do you notice yourself feeling anxious? Angry? Irritable? Judgemental? Upset? Hurt? Excited? In anticipation?

For this week, I recommend keeping a notepad/journal specifically for this purpose and writing down every instance in which you notice an emotional charge arise. Make a note of what is present at that time, internally and externally (e.g., I am irritable, I am stuck in traffic, and I am worried I am going to be late for my first meeting of the day, and my team is going to judge me as not committed; what if I get demoted or fired!?).

Keep a running tab of these in one place, and next week we’ll dive into Part 2 to see what’s underneath these triggers and if there is a theme/pattern to the seemingly many separate events ;).

With deep appreciation for the power in these every day practices, and how they catalyze our highest potential,

Jadi

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