On locks and circumstances
A couple of days ago I read a book (part psychology, part evolution, part business kind of mix-up you see lately which I can't even say why I read or what I've learned from). Anyhow, the author describes the famous experiment by Milgram. In Short, Milgram told college students that he is conducting an experiment on learning and encouraged them to set an electric shock to a learner (who was an actor, but the students didn't know that) whenever he got an answer wrong. Milgram showed that most of the students, when encouraged by the experimenter, raised the voltage to dangerous levels and kept it up even though the learner was crying and begging them to stop. A less known part of the experiment, is that when another experimenter was in the room and argued with the first experimenter not to raise the voltage, most of the students (90%) declined to raise the voltage in a stark contrast to the first experiment. The author of the book, like Milgram, concluded that our circumstances have a lot of effect on our decisions and behavior.
This is something I set against for many years - I believed (and to a point still believe) that it is our responsibility to be able to make our wishes happen and that in many cases it is easier to find a way to go into, around or under walls than to move them (I guess that's part of why I like the Vorkosigan books). Lately however, I experienced a failure which taught me humility and maybe I just grew a little older and it dawned on me that as an adult, most of the time I can choose the environments I'm in and that it is much easier to achieve things when you are in a supportive environment rather when you are in a place where everything you do you have to fight for.
Now, this all relates to my yoga practice in two ways. The first one is, of course, the circumstances of when and where to practice and doing it in the same place and time every day. This is all very trivial and yet I haven't solved it all exactly so I won't write about it at all now. The other thought, I had this Thursday, when I was having a "Forward Bends" practice and which I want to describe here.
The forward bend practice is one of my favorites. It's not about strength, or stamina but about concentration. You can say that all the poses are variations on Paschimottanasana (just sitting straight with the legs sent forward) and the practice is essentially about breathing and keeping the back straight and very wide. I do the poses interspersed with Surya Namaskar in order to keep some level of energy and not fall into too deep a meditation. In the tradition of yoga I do, while practicing forward bends we keep working with the feet (this is called the "feet bandha" or rather "Pada bandha").
So, I was doing forward bends when it occurred to me that I can perceive a whole pose as the external circumstances that allow my mind to prosper. And that different poses (or groups of poses) create different circumstances that directs my mind to different places or in different ways. In forward bends, the foot bandha helps to "lock" the pose in place and the mind stays in the back. I have a lot to say about the things the mind sees when it dwells in the back but that's a totally different story for another time. For now, I'd like to say something more about Forward bends and locks. In most of the poses that belong to this group, when photoed in books, the hands reach the legs, or grasp the feet (sometimes after going around the back or something else that usually looks imaginary :D). Also, they are called "forward bends" so we feel that we have to bend forward. Personally - I always thought that keeping the back wide and "talking" (responsive?) is more interesting in this practice than reaching forward. The position of the hands, in a way, is just another lock that helps to lock the pose. Well, if we are really there, and add the hands that's fine - and I must admit, that lately I find that in some of those poses I feel I can do that. But if we are not there, and we add the hands, we just lock ourselves in the wrong pose and what's the good in that?
I guess, what I want to say, is that in yoga, it seems that the circumstances are very important (see also the beginning of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika which is also a different discussion I promise to make one day), and instead of trying to bypass "walls" we try to build them in a way that suits us the best. We take great care in building them and, just like in Milgram's experiment, the rest just happen naturally as a result. As usual, it took me a lot of time to perceive this and will probably take me even longer to be able to implement it "out of the mattress" but hey, that's what practice is for.
This is something I set against for many years - I believed (and to a point still believe) that it is our responsibility to be able to make our wishes happen and that in many cases it is easier to find a way to go into, around or under walls than to move them (I guess that's part of why I like the Vorkosigan books). Lately however, I experienced a failure which taught me humility and maybe I just grew a little older and it dawned on me that as an adult, most of the time I can choose the environments I'm in and that it is much easier to achieve things when you are in a supportive environment rather when you are in a place where everything you do you have to fight for.
Now, this all relates to my yoga practice in two ways. The first one is, of course, the circumstances of when and where to practice and doing it in the same place and time every day. This is all very trivial and yet I haven't solved it all exactly so I won't write about it at all now. The other thought, I had this Thursday, when I was having a "Forward Bends" practice and which I want to describe here.
The forward bend practice is one of my favorites. It's not about strength, or stamina but about concentration. You can say that all the poses are variations on Paschimottanasana (just sitting straight with the legs sent forward) and the practice is essentially about breathing and keeping the back straight and very wide. I do the poses interspersed with Surya Namaskar in order to keep some level of energy and not fall into too deep a meditation. In the tradition of yoga I do, while practicing forward bends we keep working with the feet (this is called the "feet bandha" or rather "Pada bandha").
So, I was doing forward bends when it occurred to me that I can perceive a whole pose as the external circumstances that allow my mind to prosper. And that different poses (or groups of poses) create different circumstances that directs my mind to different places or in different ways. In forward bends, the foot bandha helps to "lock" the pose in place and the mind stays in the back. I have a lot to say about the things the mind sees when it dwells in the back but that's a totally different story for another time. For now, I'd like to say something more about Forward bends and locks. In most of the poses that belong to this group, when photoed in books, the hands reach the legs, or grasp the feet (sometimes after going around the back or something else that usually looks imaginary :D). Also, they are called "forward bends" so we feel that we have to bend forward. Personally - I always thought that keeping the back wide and "talking" (responsive?) is more interesting in this practice than reaching forward. The position of the hands, in a way, is just another lock that helps to lock the pose. Well, if we are really there, and add the hands that's fine - and I must admit, that lately I find that in some of those poses I feel I can do that. But if we are not there, and we add the hands, we just lock ourselves in the wrong pose and what's the good in that?
I guess, what I want to say, is that in yoga, it seems that the circumstances are very important (see also the beginning of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika which is also a different discussion I promise to make one day), and instead of trying to bypass "walls" we try to build them in a way that suits us the best. We take great care in building them and, just like in Milgram's experiment, the rest just happen naturally as a result. As usual, it took me a lot of time to perceive this and will probably take me even longer to be able to implement it "out of the mattress" but hey, that's what practice is for.