I used to think discipline meant I was fighting against myself, like I was forcing a wild animal into a cage. Now I see it more like building a really solid fence around a garden -- the wildness is still there, it's just contained and nurtured. The body knows the difference between forcing and guiding. It tenses against the first, softens into the second. I used to think my body was the unruly animal, but it was just waiting for a leader worth following. The fence isn't just to keep the wildness IN, but to keep the world OUT. All the shoulds and supposed-tos that would trample everything I'm trying to grow. It takes a lot of tending, that fence.