So, the deal with Ahisma is that we’re not supposed to be aggressive or inflict harm on anyone, especially ourself. Ahem! In case anyone has noticed, if you are trying to get in serious shape, or even if you want to have a power yoga practice, then you are often required to push your body to develop the strength and endurance needed just to keep up. This is an immediate speed bump in practicing the niyamas. Often, if we are striving for a physical ideal, especially in an environment that promotes competition and comparison to peers like a gym, we may be more prone to injury as our mental focus is on pushing ourselves, and our internal dialogue might not be full of motivational ideas, but instead self-recrimination.  Then our friend Tapas enters the mix. Discipline requires that we stick to a fitness routine, right? Even if the lactic acid is still burning a hole in our muscle tissue! 

Maybe I should have asked my new trainer today if she believes that I should take it nice and easy on myself to avoid injury. Perhaps I could have if I hadn’t been sucking wind so badly between atrocious pendulum lunges. I found myself so carried away with my own desire to succeed and push myself that I really went too far and spent the night icing my ankle.
The yogic response to all this is, of course, balance. I have found that just keeping the idea of Tapas in mind each day is what brings me to the mat, or to the gym. Once I am there, then I have to actively notice how ashisma plays into my mindset that day and remain aware of my own urges to push myself beyond the point where I am safely working out with excellent form. The truth is that, even if I can crank out a few more reps, if the form is not on target, I am not working those muscles properly anyway and my efforts are less effective overall. 
Witness consciousness allows us to keep a positive mindset when engaging in anything billed as for self-improvement. That helps eliminate the chance that all that discipline and exertion of will is not really masking some deep desire to change who I am because I don’t like myself. It simply allows me to keep a positive goal in mind, in this case, wellness and fitness.