Day 5: Be Your Own Medicine

Welcome to Day 5 of the Yoga Anytime Self-Care Challenge. Hi. We’re so happy you’re here. Today’s model for self-discovery and care is aparigraha, the final yama. Aparigraha is the practice of knowing and tasting your own medicine. It is the practice of revering your own resources. Aparigraha is the flip side of brahmacharya. This yama invites us to stop looking outside of ourselves for answers, validation, wholeness. Aparigraha is the practice of self-sustenance.

Already Whole

When we trust ourselves, we realize there is nothing we need to become that we aren’t already. We stop striving to be someone or something else. This is the practice of aparigraha, or non-hoarding or non-possessiveness or non-grasping.

“When one is established in aparigraha, there is knowledge of the nature and purpose of existence.” ~ YS 2.39

The practice of preserving our precious life force is counterbalanced by the practice of relying on our own resources for nourishment. You are your own medicine. In today’s practices, we will work to locate our own inner resources, to taste our own medicine in an effort to more deeply trust ourselves and the mystery of this universe as unfolding in its own divine way. Whereas yesterday’s practices focused on what or where we “give ourselves away," today focuses on what we let in. There are many places to become overwhelmed by the external, to fill our senses with a picture of life other than our own, to lose trust in our own inner resources and vitality. I’m not suggesting that we turn off the news forever or even that we can’t evolve into even more shimmering versions of ourselves through practice and learning, but an awareness of where we look for truth, what we trust as our energetic anchor can assist in making us more intentional about those choices. Once we trust ourselves and in our own ability to self-soothe, self-regulate, we have space to discern what external information is offered up as helpful or unhelpful. For today’s practices, we will settle into a meditation, followed by some self-study and journalling. I can’t wait to hear how these practices feel for you. Be sure to keep in touch with your experience by commenting here or on social media. Tag us on Facebook and Instagram and use the hashtag #SelfCareChallenge. Join us for the 10 Day Self-Care Challenge with Kelly Sunrose.