Dear srk:

Do not be alarmed by regression. It does not mean you are doing something wrong or that your progress is cancelled.

Regression is part of progress. There is nothing you can do to prevent regression, not for a long, long time. Many people give up on whatever practice they are engaged in when regressing. The practice works many times, as it had with you for a while, but then, when it doesn’t work, they give up.

This is where the practice is most important- at those moments of regression, at those moments of distress.

Progress is not perfect, it is not feeling better and better and then feeling good forever more. It is feeling better, then not better, then better, then worse, and maybe even worse, then better… and over a long time, overall, you feel better.

As you practice brisk walking for example, maybe there are adjustment that will help you, walk earlier or later in the day, walk here or there, increase or decrease speed, depending on how tired you are, walk less on any one day, or more on another. Be flexible but continue a practice that works a lot of the time and which doesn’t harm.

anita