Keep Digging: A Story of Practice
Once, there was an old farmer who knew his time was nearing an end. He called his three grown children to his bedside and said, “In the pasture, there is a treasure. I want you three to have it when I am gone.” The children, eager to honor their father’s wishes, promised to find and care for the treasure.
Not long after the farmer passed away, the siblings set out to dig for the hidden riches. They worked tirelessly, shoveling through the soil day after day. Exhausted but determined, they dug, rested and dug again, searching every inch of the pasture.
But no treasure appeared.
Finally, they gave up, bewildered and disheartened. Convinced their efforts were in vain, they abandoned their quest and tried to move on with their lives. Months passed, and when spring arrived, they noticed something extraordinary: the pasture they had worked so hard to dig was bursting with the most incredible harvest they had ever seen. Their labor had transformed the field, even though they hadn’t realized it at the time.
This is how practice works.
There will always be reasons not to dig into the postures and practices of yoga. Too tired, too busy, too old, too achy - the list goes on. But when you show up, when you commit to the work, something begins to shift. The effort you put in starts to bear fruit, even if the results aren’t immediate or even obvious.
Often, after a practice, you may not feel like you’ve unearthed some great treasure. Instead, you might feel sore, distracted or simply tired. Yet, beneath the surface, the work you’ve done is preparing the ground for future growth.
The digging - the consistent, sometimes messy, sometimes thankless effort - is where the magic lies. The treasure may not appear in the moment, but over time, the fruits of your labor will emerge, and the richness of your practice will reveal itself.
Here are some ways to keep digging.
The harvest will come.
