Tapa – Burning Your Vices in the Fire of Discipline

Tapa is a niyama which translates to personal observances in the practice of yoga.

Discipline is required to achieve any desired goal in life. Someone who is not self-disciplined will be disciplined by external factors or by someone else to achieve that other person’s goal in exchange for some amount of money.

Tapa is disciplining yourself to pursue or endure anything that may be difficult or painful while you do it, but will be beneficial in the long run.

Examples I can think of in our day-to-day life include waking up early, eating healthily, working on a long-term goal every day, making yourself sit down to write a blog or post, not reacting when you really have the urge to, and so on.

You know that you would rather sleep in, eat lots of fries and cakes, procrastinate indefinitely, and react immediately—as these give us pleasure in that moment.

But all things that give us pleasure or make us happy may not be good for us in the long term.

Practicing tapa will jolt us out of our wired behaviors and patterns. It will force us to do something different, which will change our thought processes and even our behaviors and inclinations.

You may want to accomplish many things.

Persistence through difficult practices for better, sustainable results is more important than giving in repeatedly to habits that will not be beneficial for your growth. For example, someone giving you constructive criticism may not really be as harmful as someone who will always tell you you’re the best every time.

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