Returning Again and Again by Lexie Wolf

This summer my “nonnegotiable” morning meditation practice became a little inconsistent. More times than I’d like to admit, the little negotiating hobgoblin inside me convinced me to delay or skip it. Oh, well. The best time to begin again is always now—and so that is what I’ve done.

A Sadhana, or daily practice, can take many forms. In the Eastern wisdom traditions, it often weaves together breathwork, movement, mantra or chanting, and meditation. These practices didn’t appear by accident—they were carefully developed over centuries to help us shift our state of being in reliable, powerful ways.

That said, your Sadhana doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. Maybe it’s a mindful walk in the woods, time with your journal, or simply sitting in silence for a few minutes each morning. What matters is that you approach it with intention. The form can be flexible, but the consistent thread is that it helps you return to yourself, again and again.

So what makes something a Sadhana?

• It helps shift your state of being in the moment—lifting your mood, calming your nervous system, grounding your awareness, helping you feel more at home in your own skin.

• It’s done with consistency. That’s the real magic. Each time you practice, you give yourself a small reset. Over time, those resets build on each other until your baseline state of being shifts and elevates.

Think about yoga class: you might walk out feeling better than when you arrived, only to notice the old stresses creeping back in a few hours later. But when you practice regularly, the effects last longer. Eventually they become part of who you are, not just how you feel after class. That’s the quiet power of consistency.

When you find something that resonates, stick with it. I know it’s tempting to bounce from one new thing to the next—this retreat, that class, this healer, that routine, this medicine or that one. There’s nothing wrong with exploring, but constant seeking can sometimes keep us in the shallows. The deeper transformation comes from showing up for one practice long enough for it to show up for you.

We don’t shift overnight. We shift one moment, one breath, one step, one practice at a time. Keep tending your practice, and it will keep tending you.