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As long as one is attached to a technical alignment, a person is enslaved and bound by sensation

This article was sparked by conversations we had with practitioners about their experiences.  Some people have received strong adjustments from others who have come to them;Others have attended classes “ filled” with technical alignment or anatomical terminology that they didn't find useful afterward...etc. In the early days of practicing yoga asanas, we attended workshops with famous yoga masters. We were lucky to meet Mark Darby, Joanne Darby, and Shankara Darby soon after, who guided us on how to practice Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in an organic way.


In the past 12 years of learning from the Darby family, they have never imposed heavy postural adjustments on us, but more intelligently guided the adjustments through breathing in and out, so that the practice was not interrupted by “external forces”, and at the same time we learned inward observation and self-adjustment, not depending on external forces or the illusion of image forms. They never asked or ordered us to read a specific yoga book, but more humanity, so that we could find the topics of interest by ourselves, and if we had any doubts, we could discuss them together in class to find out the appropriate understanding.  They never asked us to memorize the names of muscle groups or the types of fascia, but rather they taught us the “ concept of connection”, and from there the opportunities for self-learning are infinite.

 

Rather than willpower, it's better to cultivate observation.


We depend on experiences, on challenges, to keep us awake. We would all be fast asleep, and therefore we depend on a challenge, an experience, to give us more excitement, more intensity, to make our minds sharper. 


That’s because when we are pushing, we are relying on willpower alone (which studies suggest is at least in some ways a limited resource).  We focused on what I think I should be doing and ignoring what our inner wisdom is telling me.


Is it possible to keep awake totally, not peripherally at a few points of my being, but totally awake without any challenge or any experience? This implies a great sensitivity, both physical and psychological. To be free of demand and satisfaction necessitates investigation into myself and an understanding of the whole nature of demand.


Be aware of every thought and of every feeling, never to say it is right or wrong but just to watch it, and move with it. In that watching you begin to understand the nature of itself, understood how all thought is never free but always old.

 

Awareness is an instrument of freedom. - - Moshe Feldenkrais


The subjective part is the part from the reception of the sensation until the conscious reception; this is the subjective world.  The aware image is the beginning of objectivity.  After all, the objective also inside ourselves, an integral part of ourselves exactly like the subjective, and the capacity to be aware is the objective within the subjective.  The instrument that objectifies the subjective is the one which enables a human being to uplift one’s self.  And from this point of view the instrument of awareness is an instrument of freedom for the human being.  As long as the human being is attached to the subjective, one is completely taken by the sensation and its conscious image.  Without it being processed by awareness, a person is enslaved and bound.


Awareness then frees the human being in the sense that it turns his concepts to objectives.  Therefore, developing awareness is increasing man’s objectivity in order to liberate him from the limitations accompanied by subjectivity.  Gurdjieff is correct in saying that developing awareness, the capacity to concentrate and the capacity to analyze, enables one to stand above one’s own sense of limited subjectivity and unites one to a higher unity; it frees one from personal ambitions and from centering one’s attention exclusively on oneself as his own subject.  This enables awareness to stand beyond or above the “I” and to look at this “I” from the outside.

 

Less sensations are better. - - Mark Darby


In yoga asana practice, there are some people who like to find the feeling of stretching beyond their physical abilities or compression in the posture.  Lots of sensation which maybe which maybe people want to feel,  I mean they want to feel the sensation.  But as I always say the less sensations you feel in the posture the better.  Sensations of your body telling you that something needs to adjust something’s just compressing or over stretching.  So if you have less sensations it means there’s flow of Qi or Prana.


<Mysore 1978>   Interview with Mark Darby and Joanne Darby.

“Because also only westerners in that time wanted to do yoga. Indians wanted to have modern education, to find job. Pattabhi Jois could push you and next day you come again and he would again push you and you leave only after 3 months to take rest from it. Very hard. In the west I dont think it's possible to teach like this. I remember I was given blessings by Pattabhi Jois to assist him. I remember one time I was adjusting an Indian the same way that Guruji adjusted me and he said: “no, no, don`t touch”. But If we adjusted in a very hard manner and people had to work, they would stop coming. I remember one time in Australia I met with Shandor Remete because after two years I developed a very strong practice and we got to meet very quickly and he was leaving to India to study with B.K.S. Iyengar so he asked me to look after his school for one month. I had 30 students and after one month - 4. Because I was teaching the same way as Pattabhi Jois and people just did not come back.”

 

Learning how to practice with less muscular effort, focus on quality breathing,for attaining steadiness (Sthira) and comfortable (Sukha).


For many practitioners, this is a battle to constantly engage in as the mind struggles for self centered, ego validation.  To shift gears from the apparent cultural values of “more is better” may not set well with some practitioners.  They will continue to push themselves hard, to apply competitive goal toward more flexibility, strength or « picture perfect » Yoga asana practice.


The mental shift Yoga asana is encouraging is subtle, yet producing major impact upon the attitude that drives all our life activities.  It is among the crucial pivotal points in distinguishing Yoga from competitive sports like gymnastics.  Some contemporary Yoga schools have gone so far from the classical teaching as to promote Yoga competitions with scoring for ‘perfect asanas’ based on Olympic competition guidelines for gymnastic floor exercises.


Enquire of ourselves: when the instructor strongly adjusts our postures, how much we are effecting?

There is an answer to these questions, as an aligned adept will feel the sensations of specific muscles stretching or toning during each Yoga asana.


Yoga adepts are those whose bodies and minds are free from the influences of the currents of sensation.  In others, these sensations create responses of fear, anxiety, lethargy, and are in some fashion translated as stress and suffering.

 

Jada yoga, lifeless yoga.


T. Krishnamacharya used to say, asana or pranayama without inner bhāvanā (a beneficial attitude) is Jada (lifeless), just techniques with little integrative and transformative power.


It is not mere physical exercise. If you practice only mere physical exercises without any connection to Yoga.


More than physical health, while practicing asanas, the mind also is exercised. Mind will follow the breath. If the mind starts following the breath, mind will stop thinking of anything else. If the mind stops thinking of anything else, it will be following the breath. There is thus, an internal connection between mind and breathing.

 

The breath connects to an inner intelligence, a resource within, that is seeking a balanced state of being.


Many principles lie behind the practice of asanas and the breath and how they relate to and influence each other and the mind.


And a big part of it is connection through the breath and connection with movement and breath to make that connection with the mind and eventually quieting the mind to give us greater connection with our self.


In our Mysore, Vinyasa Krama Yoga, Pranayama and other programs, we're trying to emphasize the experience, that people experience the observation of the movement of breath. In the classes, through simple sequences that represent, and in the hands-on work we call it: the breath dialogue, where we are basically dialoging with the allowed breath, and help them to sense and understand what's happening with their breath.


A breath experience can actually be the allowed breath, the breath that comes and goes on its own, which connects to an intelligence, to an inner intelligence, a resource within, that is seeking a balanced state of being. And we're teaching people to connect with that breath and to learn, as they learn to use that breath, to listen and follow that breath in its development, as it develops throughout the body and clears and integrates patterns of resistance.


Breath was seen as a central connector or link between body and mind.


We would say really simply, helping to bring awareness to the breath and coordinating gentle movement with the breath helps to bring that connection to the mind.  By linking the body and the mind through the breath and coming to that place of greater self-awareness at every level, body, breath, mind.

 

For the teachers.


Observation is one of the foremost requirements for teaching.  If a teacher is just distributing technical information without observing the people who are receiving it, he will fall short of the real goal.  Even in a group situation, the teacher should try to appreciate each individual, because he is sharing more than just technical know-how.  A good teacher also encourages independence. - - TKV. Desikachar

 

- TO REFLECT -

Should we stay in one pleasant sensation while avoiding the others, or observe and above all feel and experience each one?


In practice, when you go into the sensation, which means finding a pleasant experience that was lived in the past, this already indicates that you're not in the moment, and wanting to obtain something also indicates that you're not in the present, but in a hypothetical future. Feeling is a crucial point of practice, and has nothing to do with sensation-seeking. When we feel and develop attentive awareness, we develop equanimity, and there is no reaction, we examine without liking or disliking, but appreciating the moment, the process of which we are a part without attachment. This is the process of transformation. Understanding is a very important aspect, and this comes only through conscious experience. As a result, practice serves you and the whole of which we are a part. This means no longer being in ignorance. Liberation doesn't mean that there are no more problems; problems do arise, but there is no longer any identification. In fact, there is a clear vision and acceptance of the manifestation process. Making the effort to make less effort means not reacting, and making it spontaneous. This is possible through observation, conscious feeling and understanding. So there are no unconscious reactions. If there is a feeling and an unconscious reaction, desire is formed, and so it's a cycle that you risk repeating, because a form of attachment is created. We are responsible for our actions and reactions. By becoming responsible, we can have a real impact and help humanity. If you understand this process, you need to practice differently, so that practice doesn't become an ego trip, but an opportunity to free yourself and stop being a slave to practice, and which serves higher intentions.


The teacher has a responsibility to make room for understanding and the development of intelligence. For some, this will take more or less time. But it won't happen through a multitude of techniques and strong adjustments that favor the search for sensation to the detriment of the right experience of reality. We get closer to who we are with subtlety and accuracy.


We don't approach Gods with an inflated ego.



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