10 Steps to Breaking Free From Your Samskaras

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I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Che Dyer about patterns of behaviour and thoughts for her new members area which aims to provide it's subscribers with the inspiration to get moving, creating, soul searching and connecting.

Having spoken with Che I thought it would be helpful to provide a post on how to break free from the habits or patterns that we find ourselves slaves to.

Patterns are know as Samskaras in Sanskrit, some of which we adopt from our parents when we are born, others we can develop during our life, they can take the form of behaviours or thoughts and can be both good or bad for us.

As we progress as yogis we are concerned with overcoming our negative Samskaras and replacing them with something more positive.

Here are 10 steps to take to move forward from negative patterns in your life -

Decide to take the first step towards change, this is often the most frightening step
Become conscious of your own habits, patterns or thought processes
Begin a meditation practice to observe your thoughts
Start to journal to observe your thoughts
Look at any habits that you have and ask yourself honestly, is this serving me?
If the answer is no develop the willingness to change
Ask yourself what can you replace the negative habit or thought process with? For example instead of having a glass of wine every night when you get home, take 10 minutes and listen to a guided meditation. Or replace a negative thought with a positive one by catching yourself in the moment
Connect to other people who are in the same situation as yourself, determined to transform and support each other
Let go of your own ego to tap into your heart centred self enabling you to access your own best interests
Be your most authentic self with your heart open

Breaking free from negative patterns takes courage and strength of character. More often than not it is easier for us to remain enslaved to destructive behaviours instead of taking the risk to transform because the transformation takes work. However the work that you put in is greatly rewarded and through it you can begin to access the life that you have always dreamt of, free from the constraints of your own patterning.