For serious & aspiring students of the quest for collective liberation, I have a suggested continuum for advanced practice:
- practice every day;
- do a daily seated meditation (work towards twice a day);
- read as much as you can about yoga on your own (connect with questions & insights!) and follow the sub-paths this reading and inquiry take you on;
- find some yoga friends and talk to each other about your practice; ask each other “what’s coming up in your practice?”;
- take a solo-retreat day a few times a year;
- learn from your teacher: know what the project is and if you consent to the project, be with it completely;
- if you can get away, go on retreat yearly.
The deeper I develop my inner life through practice and self-study, the farther OUT the field of my experience (& practice) seems to extend. By this I mean that as I have undertaken the quest of personal liberation, it has naturally (seemingly accidentally) transformed into a singular hope and wish and blessing for collective liberation.
Knowing and loving the self has led to life beyond the self.