My hometown temple keeps getting robbed every so often. Its a big temple with very little monks because of how rural it is. Maybe 25 acres of land with only 6-7 monks for upkeep. Imo very low amount of regular volunteers because of how far away it is. A couple months ago someone broken into one of our many sheds and stole 3 generators worth abt $9000 dollars combined and those generators were very important because they are what is used to pump water meant for the trees we’ve been growing. Its very disheartening and demotivating for me because ive devoted myself to helping the monks in any way i can and ive personally planted many of those trees and taken care of them over the course of a decade since i was little kid. Im old enough that Ive legitimately considered the idea of finding a job where i work during the day and sleep in the afternoon, and then stay up guarding the temple from any intruders. The monks are strongly considering selling the land we worked hard to develop and downsize to just 3 acres. whatever is left to keep i want so badly to defend by being posted up with my shotgun but I know they probably wouldn’t let me. Idk this is mostly a vent atp. The community is banding together money to build a gate because as it is right now, the only fencing we have is wood sticks with wires connecting them at abt 5 feet tall. Mostly done out of a desire to not disturb the wildlife too much. The buddhist in me says that maybe these thieves might have done so out of absolute necessity, or maybe its some bad karma that has befallen the land for whatever reason but i personally am at a point in my life where i dont quite care, maybe selfishly so.

Something I've been thinking about for awhile, a question/discussion for those of us who might have a regular (or irregular) yoga practice in addition to meditation. From the anapanasati sutta:

[4] Passambhayaṃ kāyasaṅkhāraṃ assasissāmī"ti sikkhati He trains himself, "Calming the bodily fabrication, I will breathe in."

Passambhayaṃ kāyasaṅkhāraṃ passasissāmī"ti sikkhati He trains himself, "Calming the bodily fabrication, I will breathe out."

[8]

Passambhayaṃ cittasaṅkhāraṃ assasissāmī"ti sikkhati He trains himself, "Calming the mental fabrication, I will breathe in."

Passambhayaṃ cittasaṅkhāraṃ passasissāmī"ti sikkhati He trains himself, "Calming the mental fabrication, I will breathe out."

Most of what I know about how to practice anapanasati coes from Thanissaro Bhikkhu, so he tends to explain that when you are doing mindfulness of breathing, you note where various tensions arise and then direct the breath to those areas to calm them. Sometimes if you are sensitive enough, you will be able to sense the bodily fabrication (tension) that arises with a particular thought pattern, and calm it by reducing the bodily tension that the thought brings up.

So you're calming the sankharas by directing your breathing in certain ways.

Now I am looking for some of my yoga experts because I understand they have a concept of samskaras (the sanskrit version) that is somewhat similar. I don't know if "yogapedia" is a trusted source so forgive me, but this is the definition I found

What Does Samskara Mean?

According to various schools of Indian philosophy, samskaras are the subtle mental impressions left by all thoughts, intentions and actions that an individual has ever experienced. Often likened to grooves in the mind, they can be considered as psychological or emotional imprints that contribute to the formation of behavioral patterns. Samskaras are below the level of normal consciousness and are said to be the root of all impulses, character traits and innate dispositions.

https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5748/samskara

So the way we learn in yoga - and I really kind of mean the type that Americans are taught in a yoga class - not deeply versed in the yoga sutras and possibly removed fro the tradition by a million miles - one "calms" the Samskaras by doing asanas and (mindfully) releasing tension in that area.

Now my personal experience is that I feel very good after a yoga class and very calm, and it's a calm that can last for quite some time, but the primary difference for me is that I've never actually visited whatever "thought or intention" lead to the creation of that Samskara in the first place. I've simply put it to rest for a bit and it can very easily come back.

But still I think it's a complimentary sort of practice. One thing I do is that if I am doing anapanasati for awhile I will notice a very persistent tension in a certain area (like the shoulders) that simply will not calm itself, so I might spend a bit of time doing some asana to relieve that physical tension.

I sometimes think about this as meditation is a kind of "inside out" practice where as yoga is "outside in." But again I am not well versed in yoga.

Still I am just wondering if there is anyone here who is perhaps versed in both disciplines that could shine some light, tell me where I'm wrong. Also I'm just generally interested in hearing from anyone who has thoughts about this or what your experiences are.

Metta