Experiencing
energy, effort, tiring and rest in the muscles that
support your body
upright when you remain seated still
to benefit from the
position of your body (3)
1 Energy
1 Energy as the word is used here is the vitality or power that you have
in you to exert the muscular effort that you need to breathe and to support the
position and motion of your body. Your health and beneficial motion and rest
of energy in your body are the most important causes of natural positions,
muscular effort and rest. Positive thinking causes beneficial motion and rest
of energy in the inner channels of your body. Your health and beneficial motion
and rest of energy in your body support free and thorough breathing. When your
breathing is free you can straighten your backbone and hold a beneficial position more
easily.
When you have average health you have enough energy in you to exert the
small muscular effort that you need to support your legs, hips and backbone in
a position that’s as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as
you can experience comfortably in your present physical condition to be seated
still to benefit from the position of your body. It's
sufficient to be seated in a position that's as near to a completely developed cross-legged position
as you can experience comfortably in your
present physical condition and allow your breathing
to be free and straighten your backbone to gather your legs, hips and backbone
into mutually supporting positions.
The
method described in this text combines positions, small muscular efforts and
rest of your legs, hips and backbone that you experience naturally every day. When you're
practicing the method of yoga that's described in this text everything that you
do physically and feel internally is within the
ordinary range of actions, feelings and perceptions of your body.
You
experience enough energy to practice yoga and you can balance the effort and
rest in the muscles that support your body upright in every position of
remaining seated still that’s as near to a completely developed cross-legged
position as you can experience comfortably in your present physical position. Remaining seated still in
the best position of your body that you can experience in your present physical
condition develops understanding, strength and flexibility that improve how you
remain seated still.
You
can remain seated still beneficially in the best position of your body that you
can experience comfortably in your present physical condition for as short a
duration of time as one cycle of inhaling and exhaling your breathing. You don't need to
remain seated still for a long time to experience the benefits of an integrated
position of your body.
All
the positions and benefits of yoga described in this text can be experienced
spontaneously without needing to learn or think about a method. Although beneficial
motion and rest of energy in your body are spontaneous
when you’re experiencing good health and well-being the motion and rest of energy in
your body are reliably beneficial when you intend to be the best person that
you can be and allow your breathing
to be free and straighten your backbone and
maintain the supporting concerns of simple yoga
as well as you can.
The benefits of simple
yoga are experienced at all stages of development of the physical position. Every position
of remaining seated still that's the best position
that you can experience in your present physical condition supports and
improves your body thoroughly.
2 You can separate some general ideas about energy from the meaning
of the word energy that’s intended in this text.
The
word energy sometimes refers to a force that’s out of the ordinary but that’s
not the meaning of the word energy that’s intended in this text.
Energy as the word is used here is not a force surrounding, beneath or
above your body.
Energy as the word is used here is not intention, motivation, emotion or
enthusiasm. Although your intention or
motivation to maintain a beneficial
physical position might be accompanied by some emotion or enthusiasm you don't need to experience
emotion or enthusiasm to be the best person
that you can be and maintain the concerns
of simple yoga.
Excitement or anxiety
are not energy. Excitement and anxiety are experiences resulting from
concern with emotions or confused thinking. Excitement
or anxiety don’t reliably increase your energy or help to control your body.
3 You don’t need to perceive or increase the energy or power that you
have in you to remain seated still in a beneficial position of your body. If you expect
to perceive or increase your energy before you place your body in the
best position
that you can that expectation
will interfere with being the best person that you can
be and allowing your breathing to be free and the following concerns of simple yoga.
The
stimulus that you experience from inspiration and aspiration and your will to
exert the muscular effort that you need to straighten and stand your backbone
upright are beneficial. Stimulus can extend the time that the muscles that
support your body upright exert effort before they
become tired and can prolong the time that you straighten and stand your backbone
upright even when some of the muscles
that support your body are weak.
Don’t add a stimulant to your experience of remaining seated still to
benefit from the position of your body.
Stimulant means whatever you add to your
experience to increase your perception or confidence
that you have enough energy to maintain the position of your body whether your energy increases or
not.
The
idea that you need a stimulant to maintain a beneficial position of your body
is unaware of the inherent power of your mind and best thinking and the natural
concerns that you combine to experience a beneficial position of your body. Although you might
increase or prolong your energy by depending on a
material or environmental influence and you might experience some features and
benefits of an integrated position of your body you cannot control
energy that you experience by depending on a material
or environmental influence to maintain an integrated position of your body and you might become
subject to cycles of exhilaration and depression.
Many ordinary experiences stimulate. A stimulus that you
already experience regularly might not interfere with remaining seated still to benefit from the
position of your body.
You
don’t need to reduce muscular tensions or improve your flexibility to place
your body in a beneficial position to remain seated still.
Don’t rely on exercise or medication to reduce tensions in your legs to
place your body in a position to remain seated still. After you have exercised
or used medication the energy in
your body might move or rest afterward influenced by the exercise or medication.
That might interfere with exerting the muscular effort you need to hold a
beneficial position of yoga afterward. A
warm bath or rest can reduce tensions without interfering
with holding a beneficial position of yoga afterward.
It’s not necessary or beneficial to reduce your energy to remain seated
still to benefit from the position of your body. Any amount of energy
in your body is beneficial for your health and strength.
You
can easily control the energy that you have in you to exert the small muscular
effort that you need to maintain your body in a beneficial cross-legged
position. It's not more difficult to maintain your body still in a
beneficial position when you feel that you have a lot of energy in you.
Don’t add a calming influence to remaining seated still to benefit from
the position of your body. The
expression calming
influence means anything that you add to your experience
to reduce excitement or anxiety. You don't need to
be calm to be seated still in the best position of your body
that you can to benefit from the position of your body.
The idea that you need a
calming influence to maintain a beneficial position of your body is unaware of
your inherent calmness and the calming effect of allowing your
breathing to be free and straightening your backbone and the following concerns
of simple yoga. If you add a calming
influence or wait to be calm before you place your body in a beneficial
position you might not allow your breathing
to be free and you might not experience a beneficial position of your body.
4 Some influences that might not interfere with the beneficial motion
and rest of energy in your body when you’re moving can disrupt, block or spend
the energy in your body while you remain still.
Turbulence of air caused by a motor propelled fan or heater buffets the
motion and rest of energy in your body while you remain still.
Use a motor propelled fan or heater only
when you need it. The natural rising and subsiding motions of the wind in
your environment don’t interfere with the beneficial motion and rest of energy in your
body.
Tight clothing or an elastic waistband, stretch fabric and any cloth
pressed in the fold of your knee interferes with the beneficial motion and rest
of energy in your body while you remain still. Elastic and stretch
clothing exert constant pressure on the surface of your body that confuse and
frustrate the motion of energy in your body while you remain still and cause
confused and uncomfortable tensions in your abdomen that interfere with free
and thorough breathing and straightening your backbone. Tensions in your
abdomen that are caused by wearing elastic or stretch fabric don't diminish by remaining
still and might cause nausea, anxiety or drowsiness.
If
you recently rode in a motor vehicle or engaged in much conversation or rushed
or felt hurried you might experience excessive or confused tensions in your
abdomen that cause the muscles of your legs to tighten. You might need
support the ends of your shins as near as possible to your knees on small firm
cushions or wedges of cloth to be seated
cross-legged comfortably when you cannot support your shins on the
upper sides of your ankles and feet beneath them. The tensions in your abdomen
and legs might relax after about five minutes have passed. Then
you might be able to support the ends of your shins at your
knees on the upper sides of your ankles and feet beneath them.
If
you drive a motor vehicle nearly every day the tensions in your abdomen and
legs might be so persistent that your cross-legged position might not progress
farther than supporting your shins on the upper sides of your ankles and feet. If you stop driving a
motor vehicle regularly your cross-legged position
will progress gradually toward more of your weight being supported
beneath your shins nearer to your knees. This relation between
the development of a cross-legged
position and driving a motor vehicle is relevant to
a cross-legged position that you develop by practicing the method that’s
described in this text. You
can develop a cross-legged position due to different causes and conditions
such as natural flexibility and appropriate exercises.
If
you’re seated on a floor separate your body from direct contact with the floor.
Direct contact between your body and
a floor can drain your energy. If you’re seated on a floor you
need a rug or mat made of natural fibers or four to eight layers of cotton
towel cloth to separate your body from direct
contact with the floor. If you’re seated on a floor you should not be able to feel
that the floor is colder than your body. That
can drain your energy. If you’re seated on a floor and you’re
actually feeling in your legs or posterior that the floor beneath you is colder
than your body you need more layers of natural fiber mat or cotton towel cloth to
insulate you from that cold.
Your knees, calves, ankles or feet might sometimes ache and become weak
overnight. They might have become chilled
during the previous day when you were walking, standing or
sitting in a cold place or when you were sleeping. Those discomforts can happen
also if you have not walked or exercised your legs enough,
or if you recently exerted too much effort in
the muscles of your legs, or if you have reduced circulation in your legs
or insufficient vitamin C. There are many popular non-prescription drugs available that
seem to remedy the unpleasant symptoms of this quickly.
Being seated cross-legged in the position of your body that’s as near to
a completely developed cross-legged position as you can experience comfortably
in your present physical condition and maintaining the supporting concerns of
simple yoga can relieve excessive or confused tensions in the muscles of your
abdomen and legs. Good food, warm baths,
self-massage and resting your legs in horizontal positions can usually relieve
discomfort from exerting excessive muscular effort or being chilled and can
restore agility and strength in your legs, although it can take as long as one
or two days of nearly not walking at all to restore your well-being naturally.
5 The support beneath your body should be firm and comfortable when
you remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body. The
word firm in this context means a physical support such
as the surface of a chair or a cushion beneath your posterior (hips and the
ends of your thighs at your hips) that remains unmoving, still, after your weight has pressed
down on it as far as the support can condense.
Don’t avoidably remain seated still on a support that contains springs
or sponge nor on a rug or mat that contains even a thin layer of rubber or
sponge. When you plan to remain seated
still to benefit from the position of your body you might need to prepare the seat
that will support your body to ensure that the support beneath
your body will be firm.
The cushion or stack of folded cloth beneath
your posterior and any rug or cloth beneath your feet and ankles should be made
of materials that are not springy or spongy. Even a big
natural fiber filled cushion or many layers of folded natural fiber
cloth placed on a hard surface don't diminish the firmness
and stability of the support beneath your posterior. The weight of your
body presses the cushion or folded cloth downward until the soft material condenses
to be firm enough to support your weight firmly. When your body reaches the
depth where it stops condensing the cushion or folded cloth the support beneath
your body is firm.
Synthetic materials don’t become firm when they’re condensed like
natural fibers do when they’re condensed. Springs, sponge, elastic
or rubberized supports don't become firm when they're condensed. The
support provided by springs or sponge or a rubberized surface feels
like floating on water. Springs, sponge, elastic or rubberized supports exert
continually
fluctuating pressure when they're condensed by the weight of your body. Your energy moves
continually to remedy the instability of
your position and the muscles of your abdomen and legs move continually to adjust
your balance. When you support your body on springs or
sponge or a rubberized surface your position cannot be still. You might feel
nausea or experience anxiety, or become drowsy.
A firm support does not
need to be hard. Natural fibers become firm when they're condensed by the
downward pressure of your weight and they support your body
firmly and comfortably. A hard surface can be
made both firm and comfortable by covering it with a cushion or a
stack of folded cloth. You can place a natural fiber
filled cushion or a stack of folded natural fiber cloth such as cotton bath
towels on
the floor beneath your body to support your posterior
at a sufficient height. When you prepare to remain seated still you
can remedy the hardness of the floor beneath your feet and ankles
by covering the floor where you will sit with several layers of folded cloth.
6 The main concerns of simple yoga are internal. The method is
centered in intending to be the best person that you can be when you're
practicing yoga, allowing your breathing to be free, straightening your
backbone and remaining seated still the best cross-legged position that you can
experience comfortably in your present physical condition. The positions,
muscular efforts and rest that are combined in the method are
described in terms of ordinary feelings and perceptions of your body.
The
best environment for remaining seated still to benefit from the position of
your body is quiet, cool and naturally ventilated. When you’re very warm
you can become drowsy and too much cold can make your whole body tense. Remaining seated still to
benefit from the position of your body within a turbulence of air caused by a
rotating fan or machine powered ventilation agitates the
natural motion and rest of energy in your body so
that you cannot exert muscular effort and rest naturally
even when your position is correct.
Don’t be concerned with what you see or hear when you remain seated
still to benefit from the position of your body. If your
hands, eyes or hearing are occupied with something that's
happening outside your body when you
remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body that will distract the motion
and rest of energy in your body and you won't be able to remember the method of
simple yoga nor perceive or control your
position accurately.
It’s difficult to remain seated still to benefit from the position of
your body when you can hear conversation or automobile sounds. Overheard
conversations and automobile sounds communicate the rhythms of other
peoples' feelings and motions and influence the
energy in your body to behave as if you were physically
experiencing what you hear, causing tensions in your abdomen.
Don’t block your ears. Natural sounds don’t interfere with the
beneficial motion and rest of energy in your body. Don't listen to
recorded sound when you're practicing simple
yoga. Even
recorded
natural sounds distract from remaining seated still to benefit
from the position of your body. You can block
your ears when you practice simple yoga to avoid hearing nearby conversations
or recorded music. When you’re learning simple yoga practice when the sounds of
conversations and automobile traffic have subsided.
An
unsatisfactory aspect of your environment that’s unavoidable might not
interfere with maintaining a beneficial position of your body. When you disregard an
unsatisfactory aspect of your environment that's
unavoidable to devote your attention to maintaining the best position
that you can then nearly any environment is
suitable for remaining seated still to benefit from the position of your body.
If you don't disregard an unsatisfactory
aspect of your environment as well as you can even a good environment can seem intolerable.
Don’t think much about a subject that you view as negative or
unimportant when you remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body. Even when the position of
your body is beneficial the energy in your body won't
continue to support a beneficial position if your attention
becomes distracted from being the best person that you can and the following concerns of simple
yoga.
You
cannot control energy you experience as an effect of reinforcing thoughts of
criticism or resistance. Intend that
all of your thoughts and experience will be positive when you remain seated still
to benefit from the position of your body.
Don’t concentrate on a difficulty of your position longer than you need
to remedy it as well as you can. If you focus your attention on a difficulty
of your position longer
than you need to remedy it that will interfere with the natural
remedy of simple yoga. Energy won't move and rest freely in your body, your
breathing won’t be free and you won't be able to maintain a beneficial
position.
Don’t remain still if
you feel uncomfortable. Ensuring that you’re seated in the position of your body that’s
as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you can experience
comfortably in your present physical condition is more important than remaining
still. Move freely to diminish excessive tensions and improve an
uncomfortable part of your position. If any part of your position becomes too
tense or uncomfortable to improve by adjusting the position you should not
remain still.
7 Don’t rely on help from another person to maintain a beneficial
position of your body because that will distract your attention from the inner
concerns, energy won’t move and rest freely in your body and your position
won’t be beneficial. Although another person can observe the position of your body
while you remain seated still and can tell
you how your position appears as they see it they can perceive only the external appearance of your
body. They cannot be aware of your experience of energy, effort,
tiring or rest.
Don’t practice yoga because another person suggested it nor to influence
another person. Don't participate in unnecessary cooperation with another person
or group of people
supposing you’ll obtain energy that will help to maintain a beneficial position of your
body. If you interact unnecessarily with
another person that will distract
your attention from the concerns of simple yoga, energy won't move and rest freely and
you won't be able to maintain a beneficial position.
If
you engage in conversation or eye-contact or watch or listen to another person
while you remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body you
won’t experience beneficial motion and rest of the energy inside you that you
need to be in harmony to maintain your position seated upright and still. Your breathing won’t be free and you won’t be
able to straighten your backbone.
Don’t sit cross-legged in the view of another person if you’d appear
unusual because you’ll be distracted by imagining what the other person might
be thinking. Your
imagination of what another person might be thinking
will affect you in ways that you cannot know or control.
Don’t talk casually about
yoga, health, energy, exercise, tiring, rest or diet. Factors of your energy and
body that you
talk about affect your awareness and
control of your energy and body later when you remain
still.
2 Effort
1 Effort refers to the muscular effort you exert to breathe and to
support and move your body.
You exert muscular effort when you contract muscles to breathe
and to support and move your body. You need to have enough energy
accessible
in you immediately to exert the
muscular effort that you need to breathe and to support and move your body.
You need to exert muscular effort to breathe
and straighten your backbone and maintain your body in the best position that
you can. You need to exert
muscular effort to stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward
slightly during all of the time that you remain seated still to benefit from
the position of your body.
2 Support your body with the smallest muscular effort that you need to
hold your position in place. With a small muscular effort
means that you exert only the muscular effort that you need to straighten and
stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly. Don’t exert
more muscular effort than you need to hold every part of your position in
place.
The
energy in your body won’t move and rest freely to maintain a beneficial
position if you exert excessive muscular effort or tolerate discomfort.
Even when you’re maintaining a correct position if you exert excessive
muscular effort the muscles that support your position won’t be able to exert
effort and rest alternately and you’ll become tired soon. Exerting excessive
muscular effort or tolerating discomfort are common mistakes and reasons for
not continuing to remain seated still.
You won’t accidentally exert too much
muscular effort when you allow your breathing to be free and maintain a
beneficial position. You can maintain the balance of muscular effort and rest
that you need to support your position upright nearly effortlessly by exerting
muscular effort to exhale and allowing the following inhalation
to be effortless. A way of measuring how far to curve or lean
forward by observing or regulating your breathing is described in Chapter 1 and
described in detail in Chapter 8.
3 The integrated positions of your legs, hips and backbone cause the
muscles that support your position to exert effort and rest in harmony.
You don’t need to feel your muscular effort and rest to maintain a
beneficial position of your body.
Don’t try to generate
force or pressure in your body when you remain still. If you try to generate
force or pressure in your body when you remain still you’ll damage fragile
parts of your body. And you’ll become subject to cycles of excitement and depression.
You
don’t need to be stronger than you are to practice simple yoga. The muscles
that support your body will naturally become
stronger as
a result of practicing yoga for at least a few minutes nearly every day.
You experience the
benefits of simple yoga during all of the time that you remain seated still. Don’t think
that remaining seated still is a way to accumulate
benefit after
you have remained seated still for a long
time or after you have practiced many sessions of remaining seated still.
4 Imagining the external appearance of your position distracts your
attention from the inner concerns of yoga and interferes with the beneficial
motion and rest of energy in your body. Comparing your
appearance to the appearance of another
person or supposing what another person thinks
about you should not be associated with effort as the word is used here.
Effort as the word is used when describing simple yoga should not be
associated with competitive sport, conflict or emergency. Competition, conflict and urgency distract
from being the best person that you can be and the following concerns of yoga.
Don’t symbolize effort as a substitute for exerting the muscular effort
that you need to maintain a beneficial position. Don't express that you’re doing your
best by any manners or performance.
The
expression with a small muscular effort does not mean that you can maintain a
beneficial position with a small motivation to maintain a beneficial position. Don't engage in discursive
speculations about your motivation or capability to maintain a beneficial
position because those speculations distract from being
the best person that you can be and the following concerns of simple yoga.
The expression with a
small muscular effort should not be misunderstood to mean that you can maintain
a beneficial position when you exert a minimum of muscular effort or when you
don’t exert any muscular effort at all. Don't associate
exerting a small muscular effort with an idea of exerting a
minimum of effort. If you hold an idea of exerting
a minimum of effort you might not exert enough muscular effort to support a beneficial
position.
5 Maintaining your position comfortable is more important than remaining
still.
Don’t remain still if your position is not comfortable.
You can remain seated
still beneficially in the position of your body that’s as near to a completely
developed cross-legged position as you can experience in your present physical
condition as long as your breathing is free and your position is comfortable.
Your muscular effort will change from
supporting the weight of your body and motion to maintaining an integrated
position of your body still and supporting your position upright will need only
a small muscular effort.
3 Tiring
1 When you have average health you have enough
energy or power in you to exert the small muscular effort that you need to
maintain a beneficial position of your body seated firmly and comfortably
upright and still. When you intend to be the best person that
you can be when you’re practicing yoga and allow your
breathing to be free and thorough. You straighten your backbone as well as you
can with a small muscular effort. You’re seated in the most developed cross-legged
position that you can experience comfortably in your present physical
condition. You stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward
sufficiently to press the ends of your thighs at your knees downward. The
position of your body will be restful and vital and will become more integrated
while you remain seated still.
Tiring in the muscles that support your body
begins when you exert effort to support your position upright and continues and
increases until the muscles tire so much that they need to rest.
Tiring as the word is
used here does not mean being already too tired to exert the muscular effort
that you need to support your body because your energy is already spent. Tiring as the word is used here does not mean
exasperated or not caring.
Tiring can help you to maintain a cross-legged position that’s as near
to a completely developed cross-legged position as you can experience
comfortably in your present physical condition. How tiring can help you to maintain a
beneficial cross-legged position is described in Chapters 4, 5 and 8.
Your muscles tire relatively soon when you
use them in new ways even when you practice yoga as well as you can. You
need to practice yoga at least a few minutes nearly every day for several
months to strengthen muscles that you're using in new ways.
Don’t tense the muscles supporting
your position to make them rigid to extend the time that you remain still. The hazard of tensing the muscles that
support your position to extend the time that you remain still is described in
Chapter 12 part 7.
2 Experiencing tiring in the muscles that support your body upright will help
you to perceive and control your physical position more precisely than you
could when you began to be seated still.
When the muscles that support your body upright become too tired to
continue to exert effort to support your position upright they will need to
rest.
The muscles that exert effort to support your position will eventually
tire so much that they cannot exert effort any longer and they’ll stop exerting
effort.
Alternative
sets of muscles will exert effort to support your position.
You can remain seated still in a beneficial cross-legged position for a longer
time while alternate sets of muscles exert effort to help to support your
position upright, allowing the muscles that previously supported your position
to rest.
When the alternative sets of muscles tire and stop exerting effort, the
muscles that exerted effort previously will exert effort again.
Alternating sets of muscles that support your position will exert effort and
rest and exert effort again until in time fatigue will accumulate in many of
the muscles that support your position.
When
fatigue accumulates in many of the muscles that support your position upright
and the muscles that exerted effort become too tired to support your position
upright any longer some of the muscles will stop exerting effort and parts of
the positions of your legs, hips and shoulders will loosen and fall minutely. The improved positions of your legs, hips and
shoulders will cause some muscles to exert effort in new ways to support your
position upright and small tensions will stretch some muscles and ligaments
beneficially.
Some
muscles will exert effort in new ways and small beneficial stretching will combine
to move your legs, hips and shoulders minutely into more integrated positions
while you remain seated still.
You’ll perceive and
control your improved position more precisely than you could when you began to
be seated still and your position will feel more comfortable and vital than
when you began to be seated still.
3 When you’re seated in a rudimentary position on a firm, flat support
with your legs extended forward at the same level as your posterior –
Standing your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly -
Causes the muscles beneath your thighs and posterior (hips and the ends
of your thighs at your hips) and at the back of your body to exert effort or stretch
beneficially and the ends of your thighs at your knees press downward.
This allows the muscles at the upper sides of your thighs and at the
front of your body to rest more than they rest ordinarily when you support your
position upright so the inhalations of your breathing can be effortless. When the muscles that support your position
upright become tired alternating sets of muscles will exert effort and rest to
support your position upright for a while longer.
You
can verify that the upright position of your body is beneficial by ensuring
that the inhalations of your breathing can be effortless. How to verify that your upright position is
beneficial is described in Chapter 1 and described in detail in Chapter 8.
Because tiring in the
muscles that support your position upright can be beneficial when you’re seated
in a rudimentary position your position can be beneficial for a while longer
when you become tired.
4 When you’re seated in a beneficial cross-legged position supporting
your posterior (hips and the ends of your thighs at your hips) and the ends of
your shins as near as possible to your knees firmly then -
Standing your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly -
Causes the muscles beneath your thighs and posterior and at the sides
and back of your body to exert more effort or stretch beneficially to support
your position upright and -
Allows the muscles at the front of your body to exert less effort than
they exert ordinarily to support your position upright so the inhalations of
your breathing can be effortless.
Your feet, ankles and the upper sides of your shins and thighs relax. The minute natural rotations that occur in
the positions of your feet, ankles and the ends of your shins at your ankles
toward the development of the position are described in Chapters 2 and 4.
When the muscles that support your position
become tired your position will improve.
5 When you’re seated on a chair with your feet supported on the floor
like when you’re standing, your feet, ankles and shins are located equally
beneath your posterior (hips and the ends of your thighs at your hips) as they
are located in front of your posterior. When you’re seated in a rudimentary seated position
with your legs extended forward at the same level as your posterior, your feet,
ankles, shins and the ends of your thighs at your hips are all located in front
of your posterior. When you’re seated cross-legged with the ends of your shins
as near as possible to your knees supported on the upper sides of your ankles
and feet beneath them, the ends of your shins and thighs at your knees are
located in front of your posterior.
When you’re seated on a chair when the muscles that support your
position upright become tired alternating sets of muscles don’t exert effort
and rest to support your position upright. When you’re seated on a chair or similar
support with your feet supported on the floor like when you’re standing most of
your weight is supported beneath your posterior and a small proportion of your
weight is supported beneath your feet, ankles and the ends of your shins and
thighs at your knees.
You
can verify that the upright position of your body is beneficial by perceiving
or ensuring that the inhalations of your breathing can be effortless.
It’s not beneficial to be seated on a chair to benefit from the position
of your body after the muscles that support your position upright become tired.
Alternating sets of muscles exert little
effort or no effort at all to support the position of your body upright after the
muscles that support your position upright become tired.
When you sit upright and still to benefit
from the position of your body even a moment of maintaining the best position
that you can is beneficial. When you practice simple yoga in the best
position of your body that you can experience in your present physical
condition you experience all the benefits.
4 Rest
1 A position of simple yoga is an integrated structure of natural positions
of your legs, hips and backbone. You
maintain a balance of muscular effort and rest to support your body upright
during all of the time that you remain seated still in a position of simple
yoga. To balance the muscular effort and rest of the muscles that support your
gathered legs, hips and backbone you need to be seated in a cross-legged
position that's as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you
can experience comfortably in your present physical condition. It's sufficient
to maintain each part of the position as well as you can.
Rest as the word is used here is a condition of some of your muscles not
exerting effort to support a part of the position of your body.
You
experience rest in parts of your body immediately when you place your legs,
hips and backbone in a beneficial position to remain seated still and you experience
rest in parts of your position after some time has passed. Chapters 1 and 2 describe these events in a
beginner’s cross-legged position. Chapter 4 describes these events in a
developing cross-legged position.
2 You might need to rest an average of 8-10
hours to have enough energy to straighten and stand your backbone upright and
curved or leaned forward slightly when you’re learning how to remain seated
still to benefit from the position of your body. Even
when you have not rested enough recently you might have enough energy for simple
yoga after you have rested for a while.
Difficulty standing your backbone upright or difficulty remaining alert
or still can be caused by being too tired to exert the muscular effort that you
need to support your body upright.
You
can experience rest while you sleep and equally while you lie still on a firm
and comfortable support not sleeping. Every
part of your body that’s supported on the surface beneath you including your
legs, arms and head needs to be supported firmly when you recline to rest. You
might not experience rest when you sleep or lie still if the support beneath
any part of your body is not firm.
Rest does not need to be
unconscious. Sleep is unconscious. Sleep is not always an
experience of rest. You might not experience rest when you sleep or lie
still when you're preoccupied with emotions or discursive thinking.
3 Experiencing a balance of exerting muscular effort and rest in the muscles
that support your body upright does not imply that any part of your body can
rest during all of the time that you remain still. You
need to exert muscular effort to breathe and to straighten and stand your
backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly. All of the muscles that
support your body upright need to exert effort to support your body during some
of the time that you remain seated still.
Rest is not holding your body still. Don't confuse rest
with remaining still, not moving.
It’s more important to exert the muscular effort that you need to
support your body in a beneficial position and to experience enough rest in the
muscles that support your body than to hold the position of your body still.
Holding your body still is not more important than maintaining a beneficial
position of your body. Your energy cannot move and rest beneficially when you
exert excessive muscular effort or tolerate discomfort.
If you hold your body
still when you’re not maintaining the best position that you can then any
position that you hold still might become uncomfortable or numb.
4 When you fall asleep when you’re seated in a cross-legged position
that’s as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you can
experience comfortably in your present physical condition you can experience
some of the benefits of tiring described previously. You won't experience
harm from falling asleep when you’re seated in a cross-legged position that's
as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you can experience
comfortably in your present physical condition.
Don’t plan to end a session of remaining
seated still in a cross-legged position with falling asleep expecting to
benefit from falling asleep in a cross-legged position. Don't
rely on falling asleep in a cross-legged position to experience the benefits of
tiring in the muscles that support your body upright. If you place your body in
a cross-legged position with the plan to benefit from the position when you
fall asleep you won't place your body in a beneficial position and you won't
perceive or control your position accurately.
5 The method described in this text for remaining seated still to
benefit from the position of your body is easy to learn.
You might experience the yoga described in this text spontaneously without
needing to learn or think about a method.
Don’t
suppose that because the method is easy it’s not necessary to maintain the
concerns that support it. Although the
method is easy to learn and can be experienced spontaneously you need to
maintain the concerns of the method to experience a reliably beneficial
position.
When you maintain the most integrated
position of your body that you can, and maintain a balance of exerting muscular
effort and rest, you’ll experience improved agility and strength.