From My Inner Library
Reflections and excerpts from a lived yogic and human path: On integrating yoga, self-care, and purpose into everyday life
Living Sadhana: How to Integrate Spiritual Practice into a Modern Life
Dear reader,
I am sharing this piece now because the question it was written from has only become more relevant with time.
How do we live a spiritual path inside a full, demanding, modern life—rather than outside of it?
This manuscript was written during a phase of my life when practice could no longer be something I “added on.”
It had to become something I lived—in work, relationships, responsibility, exhaustion, joy, and choice.
What you are about to read comes from that threshold:
when spirituality stops being an escape—and becomes a way of inhabiting life more honestly.
Living Yoga Where Life Happens
Excerpt from My Inner Library
The following is an excerpt from a book manuscript written during a period when my spiritual practice was being reshaped by real life.
Living Sadhana: How to Reestablish a Strong Connection to Yourself and Realize Your Individual Purpose
by Verena G. Primus
Mondsee, 2021
What Is Living Sadhana?
Your life—in all its roles and responsibilities—is your actual yoga practice, and everything you do can become a form of sadhana.
This is my life.
I honor my spiritual path.
Yoga in action, is what I strive for.
Our most important spiritual practice is to take care of ourselves.
It is simple—but it is not enough to know it.
We need to actually practice and live this teaching every day.
We cannot truly take care of others, lead, create, or contribute meaningfully if we do not learn how to set appropriate boundaries for ourselves. Taking back time, nourishing ourselves through everything we do, and learning to honor our own needs is the journey I invite you on.
The Modern Yogi’s Question
These are not abstract questions. They arise naturally for modern yogis—professionals, entrepreneurs, parents, leaders, creatives—people who want depth and engagement with life.
How do I live a meaningful, spiritually connected life while carrying real responsibilities?
Can I show up fully for my work, my relationships, my family, and myself—without burning out?
Would it be possible to sustain my energy, focus, creativity, and emotional balance in a fast-paced world?
How do I stay connected to my inner guidance while navigating deadlines, decisions, and demands?
I want to live yoga, not just practice it.
Spiritual Practice Inside a Demanding Modern Life
Let’s be honest. Modern life isn’t easy—not for any of us.
Yes, there are moments of joy, success, love, and deep gratitude. There are phases when life feels abundant and meaningful. And yet, there are also days when we feel overwhelmed, stretched thin, and inwardly empty.
Our minds are full of to-do lists, responsibilities, expectations, and decisions. Inside, we may feel tired—sometimes deeply exhausted—and the usual coping strategies no longer work.
You notice the constant noise: notifications, emails, household chaos, deadlines, obligations. You look around and wonder:
Will there ever be more space?
More clarity and silence?
More room to breathe — and to be myself?
When Spiritual Practice Gets Lost
Many people once had spiritual or grounding practices: yoga, meditation, journaling, conscious movement, mindful eating, time in nature. Over time, these practices quietly slipped away — not because they stopped mattering, but because life became full.
You may find yourself asking:
Where are these inner anchors now?
Where is the sense of stability, meaning, and inner strength I once felt?
You miss that connection — but you may not know where to start or how to bring it back into everyday life.
And yet, you may discover — as I did — that there are small, powerful ways to weave spiritual practice into daily life.
Practices and principles that do not require extra time, money, or effort — yet gently reconnect you to yourself.
Life becomes more sustainable and fulfilling when you cultivate practices that lead you back to inner silence and strength.
Integrating Yoga, Ayurveda, and Self-Care
into Everyday Life
As modern yogis, we often cannot shape our lives around spiritual practice. Instead, we learn how to adapt, refine, and integrate our practices so they fit into real life.
Yogic practices and Ayurvedic principles support us most deeply when they become expressions of who we are — not limited to the yoga mat or meditation cushion, but alive in our work, relationships, leadership, and daily decisions.
These grounding and recharging practices can be woven into the day or turned into simple rituals.
A conscious pause in the middle of a difficult conversation.
- Ten minutes of movement when the opportunity presents itself.
- A few moments of stillness before sleep.
- Nourishing food eaten with awareness.
- A cup of tea, a notebook, and a quiet moment of honesty with yourself.
You may suddenly realize:
This moment is fresh.
This page is empty.
I can choose how I write my life story.
Yoga as a Way of Life
I am living proof that you can maintain a spiritual practice while living a full, demanding, and engaged life — without burning yourself out.
Yes, it takes commitment.
And, it takes dedication.
Some initial discipline may be needed to release habits that no longer serve you.
But it is worth it.
Life is too short — and too precious — to live disconnected from yourself.
Every person deserves to live a life they enjoy while living it — and feel aligned with when they look back one day.
Ayurveda and yoga can become lifelong companions. They offer stability, clarity, and orientation during the most intense and formative phases of life.
As a friend once said:
“This is the most we will ever do. Life won’t get more demanding than this.”
How Yoga, Ayurveda, and Coaching Became an Integrated Path
Over the past years as an Ayurveda–Yoga coach and mentor, I have created a sadhana toolkit of practices that help people reconnect to themselves — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
This reconnection is the foundation for discovering one’s dharma — one’s true purpose — which includes how we care for ourselves, relate to others, lead, create, and shape our lives. What I practice and live is exactly what I teach the people who come to me — individuals who want to take their health, work, relationships, and inner growth consciously into their own hands.
For thirty years, I have worked with people across cultures and life stages — as a movement teacher, bodyworker, yoga teacher, Ayurvedic specialist, and coach. Over time, my work naturally evolved into a holistic Ayurveda–Yoga coaching approach for modern yogis living full lives.
To teach yoga — the science of self-realization and Ayurveda — the wisdom of life—I integrate modern coaching tools. This allows ancient wisdom to become practical, embodied, and sustainable in contemporary life.
Yoga is the path of realizing your true nature.
Ayurveda is the wisdom of living your health and purpose.
Coaching offers practical tools for integration.
Together, these three support us in navigating change, responsibility, and growth—while learning to trust our own inner guidance.
Let me share how this path evolved—and why the integration of Ayurveda, yoga, and coaching has supported my clients and me so deeply.
✧ End of Excerpt ✧
This is where the book continues—and where the teaching becomes more personal.
Here, I begin to share more of my own path: how yoga first entered my life, how Ayurveda followed later, and how both slowly wove themselves together with the bodywork, movement practices, and energy healing disciplines I had already lived and taught for years.
It is the story of how my practice grew out of lived experience—and how life itself became the most honest teacher.
When Spiritual Practice Becomes Life
Reading this manuscript now, I see clearly what I could only sense back then:
Sadhana is not something we do when life becomes too much.
It is something that prepares us to meet life — again and again — with clarity and integrity.
True practice does not remove us from responsibility.
It gives us the inner structure to carry it.
It is something that slowly becomes life.
It lives in how we make choices.
How we listen and how we rest.
How we return to ourselves again and again.
What stayed for me was this understanding:
when practice becomes life, life itself becomes the teacher.
And when practice becomes embodied, it stops being another task—and becomes a way of living.
Invitation—Walking This Path Together
Over decades of practice and nearly thirty years of working with people around the world, I have seen one truth again and again:
Sustainable transformation happens when spiritual wisdom becomes lived experience.
This is the work I offer in my 1:1 Ayurveda–Yoga Coaching.
I support modern yogis in integrating spiritual practice into everyday life — so that sadhana becomes a source of strength, clarity, and orientation, not something reserved for retreats or moments of crisis.
You can learn more about my 1:1 work and programs here:
→ Personalized 1:1 Ayurveda–Yoga Coaching
or visit my homepage:
Integrating Practice into Daily Life
If this excerpt speaks to you, you might gently reflect:
1. Where in your life has spiritual practice become something you add—rather than something you live?
2.Where in your life are you already practicing—without calling it “spiritual practice”?
3. What small, realistic rituals could support you inside your current responsibilities?
4. What helps you return to yourself when life becomes loud or demanding?
Closing Words
Living sadhana is not about perfection. It does not ask us to escape life.
It is about relationships—with yourself, with truth, and with the life you are already living, consciously, compassionately, and with integrity.
You can learn more about my 1:1 Ayurveda–Yoga Coaching Path, where I support people in integrating spiritual practice into everyday life, here:
→ www.verenaprimus.com
Also you are welcome to return here, explore further writings in From My Inner Library, and join me through my newsletter.
With warmth and gratitude,
Verena Gayatri Primus
Ayurveda–Yoga Coach & Teacher
About the Author
Verena Gayatri Primus is an Ayurvedic specialist, yoga teacher, writer, and mentor with over three decades of lived experience on the yogic and human path. A former professional dancer, she has spent many years studying and practicing yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation, including time in ashrams and extended journeys through India.
Through her work, Verena supports people in cultivating physical health, mental clarity, emotional maturity, and spiritual depth — not as an escape from life, but as a way to live it more fully. From My Inner Library is a space where she shares lived reflections, stories, and teachings shaped by practice, love, loss, and renewal.
You’ll find all the details of my 1:1 Coaching Path here:
→ Personalized 1:1 Ayurveda–Yoga Coaching
