Experiencing
energy, effort, tiring and rest in the muscles that
support your body while
you remain seated still
in a beneficial
cross-legged position (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 motions 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 and support free and thorough breathing. Positive
thinking causes beneficial motion and rest of energy in the inner channels of
your body. 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 benefit
from the position of your body. 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.
You
can remain seated still beneficially in the most integrated position of your
body that you can experience comfortably 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
of 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 wellbeing 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 the 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 Energy as the word is used here is not a force surrounding, beneath or
above your body. 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 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 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 and don’t
reliably increase your energy or help to control your body.
3 You don’t need to feel 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 intending to be the best person that you can
be and allowing your breathing to be free and the following concerns of simple yoga.
Your
intention to be the best person that you can be and your resolve to practice
simple yoga are beneficial causes of stimulus to practice simple yoga. That stimulus can extend the
time that the muscles that support your body exert effort
before they become tired and can prolong the time that you stand your backbone upright even when
some of the muscles
that support your position are weak.
Don’t add a stimulant to your experience of remaining seated still to
benefit from the position of your body.
Stimulant as the word is used here refers to anything that you can see, hear or
experience with your other senses that you might 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
disregards the inherent power of your mind and best thinking and the natural
positions, muscular effort and rest of your legs, hips and backbone that you
can combine to experience a beneficial position of your body. Although you might
increase or prolong your energy by depending on a
material influence and you might experience some benefits of an integrated
position of your body, you cannot control the energy that you experience by depending
on a material
influence to maintain an integrated position of your body and you might become
subject to cycles of exhilaration and depression.
Many of your ordinary
experiences are stimulating. A stimulus that you
experience ordinarily might not interfere with remaining seated still to benefit from the
position of your body.
4 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.
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 muscular tensions to
place your body in a position to remain seated still. After you have exercised
or used medication the energy in
your body might continue to move or rest for some time afterward
still influenced by the exercise or medication. That might interfere with the balance of
muscular effort and rest that you need to support your body in a beneficial
position afterward. A warm bath or rest can reduce tensions without interfering
with maintaining a beneficial position afterward.
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 might add to your experience
to reduce excitement or anxiety. You don’t need to
be calm to be seated in the best position 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 disregards
your inherent inner peace and the calming effect of allowing your breathing to
be free 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.
5 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.
Contact between your body and a cold floor beneath you can drain your
energy.
When you’re seated on a floor you should not be able to feel that the
floor is colder than your body. You need a rug or mat made of natural fibers or
four to eight layers of cotton towel cloth between your body and the floor to
insulate you from the cold.
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 to 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 will relax while you remain
seated still. In time you will become 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 regularly the tensions in your abdomen and legs might be so persistent
that your cross-legged position might not progress farther than you becoming
able to support your shins on the upper sides of your ankles and feet.
When 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.
6 The support beneath your body should be firm when you remain seated
still to benefit from the position of your body. The
word firm in this context means that the support beneath your body remains
unmoving, still, after your weight has pressed down on it as far as the support can
condense. 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.
Natural fibers become
firm when they’re condensed by the downward pressure of your weight and they
support your body firmly. A natural fiber filled
cushion or folded natural fiber cloth can support
your body firmly. When your body reaches the depth
where it stops condensing the cushion or folded cloth the support beneath your
body is firm enough for you to benefit from the integrating potential of your
cross-legged position.
Don’t remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body on a
support that contains springs or sponge nor on a rug or mat that contains even
a thin layer of rubber or sponge.
Synthetic materials don’t become firm when they’re condensed like natural
fibers do. Springs, sponge, elastic or rubberized supports continually
redistribute the support of your weight between your posterior and your knees
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. You might feel nausea
or experience anxiety or become drowsy.
You
can prepare the seat that will support your body to ensure that the support
beneath your body will be firm. You can place
a natural fiber filled cushion or a stack of folded cotton bath towels on the
floor to support your posterior elevated at a comfortable height and you can
cover the floor beneath your feet and ankles with several layers of folded
cloth.
If you remain seated
still to benefit from the position of your body when the support beneath your
posterior is not firm or when your shins are not supported firmly as near as
possible to your knees your position won’t be reliably beneficial.
7 The main concerns of simple yoga are internal. Intending to be the
best person that you can be, 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 are internal
concerns. The positions, muscular efforts and rest that are combined in the
method are
described in terms of ordinary feelings and perceptions of your body.
Don’t be concerned with
what you see or hear while 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
while 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 perceive or control your position accurately.
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 might become drowsy. When you’re cold your muscles might
become 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.
Natural sounds don’t interfere with the beneficial motion and rest of
energy in your body. Don’t listen
to recorded sound while you’re practicing simple yoga. Even recorded natural
sounds distract from remaining seated still to benefit from the position of
your body.
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 or motions and influence the energy in your body to behave as if you
were physically experiencing what you hear, causing tensions in your abdomen.
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 then even a good environment might seem to
be intolerable.
8 Don’t think much about a subject that you view as negative while you
remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body. Intend that all of your
thoughts and experience will be positive while you remain seated still to
benefit from the position of your body.
You
cannot control the energy reliably that you experience as an effect of
reinforcing thoughts of criticism or resistance.
Even when the position of your body is beneficial
the energy in your body won't continue to support
a beneficial position if you become distracted
from being the best person that you can be and the following concerns of simple
yoga.
Don’t concentrate on a difficulty of your physical position any longer
than you need to remedy the difficulty as well as you can. If you’re concerned
with a difficulty
of your physical position any longer
than you need to remedy the difficulty as well as you can 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. If any part of your position becomes too tense or uncomfortable to
improve by adjusting your position then you should not remain still. Move
freely to diminish excessive tensions and to improve an uncomfortable part of
your position.
9 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 you won’t be able
to maintain a beneficial position. 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, another person can perceive only the external
appearance of your body. Another person
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 that you’ll obtain energy that will help you 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 in
your body 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 the beneficial motion and rest of the energy inside you that
your body needs 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 avoidably sit cross-legged in the view of another person if you’d
appear unusual because you might 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
your energy, exercise, tiring or rest. Factors of your energy and body that you
talk about affect your awareness and
control of your body when you remain still
to benefit from the position of your body.
2 Effort
1 Effort as the word is used here refers to the muscular effort that you
exert to breathe and to support or move part of the position of your body. When you average
health you have enough energy in you to exert the small muscular effort that
you need to support your body in the best position that you can to benefit from
the position of your body.
You need to exert
muscular effort to maintain your body in the best position that you can during
all of the time that you remain seated still to benefit from the position of
your body.
2 The expression ‘with a small muscular effort’ means that you should
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. Support your body with the smallest amount of
muscular effort that you need to exert 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 to remain seated still if you exert
excessive muscular effort or tolerate discomfort.
Exerting excessive muscular effort or tolerating discomfort are common
mistakes and reasons for not continuing to remain seated still to benefit from
the position of your body.
3 You might not feel or perceive the muscular effort that you exert
to support your body while you remain seated still.
You don’t need to feel or perceive the muscular effort that you exert to
remain seated still in a beneficial position of your body.
Don’t try to generate or
increase force or pressure in your body while you remain seated still.
If you exert excessive muscular effort while you remain seated still you might
damage fragile parts of your body. Also you might become subject to cycles of
excitement and depression.
Don’t exert muscular effort for the purpose of strengthening your
muscles while you remain seated still to benefit from the position of your
body. You don’t need to be any
stronger than you are now 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 for several weeks or months.
You
experience the benefits of simple yoga during all of the time that you remain
seated still. Don’t think
that remaining seated still in a position of simple yoga is
a means to accumulate benefit only after
you have remained still for a long
time or after you have practiced many sessions of remaining seated still.
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.
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.
4 Effort does not imply comparison or conventional appearance. Comparing your
appearance to the appearance of another
person or concern with what another person might think about your appearance
should not be associated with effort as the word is used here. 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.
Effort does not imply competition, conflict or urgency. Effort as the word is used here should not be
associated with competitive sport, duty or emergency. The effect of associating
those ideas with remaining seated still influences your experience of remaining
seated still in ways that can distract you from being the best person that you
can be and allowing your breathing to be free.
Don’t signify or symbolize effort as a substitute for exerting the
muscular effort that you need to maintain a beneficial position. Don't pose or model a posture or appearance
of difficulty or success to signify that you’re exerting the muscular effort
that you need to support your position supposing that a force or power will be
added to your experience to supply the effort that you symbolize.
The
expression ‘with a small muscular effort’ does not mean that you can maintain a
beneficial position with uncertain 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’ does not mean that you can maintain a beneficial
position while you exert a minimum of muscular effort or while you don’t exert
any muscular effort at all. Don't associate exerting a small muscular effort
to straighten your backbone with an idea of exerting a minimum of muscular effort. If you hold an
idea of exerting a
minimum of muscular effort you might not exert enough effort to support a beneficial position.
5 While you’re seated still when you perceive that you’re exerting
excessive muscular effort or experiencing discomfort exert less muscular effort
and move freely to improve an uncomfortable part of your position.
Exerting excessive muscular effort or experiencing discomfort don’t
reliably diminish any other way than by exerting less muscular effort and
improving your physical position.
You
won’t benefit reliably from remaining seated still while you exert excessive
muscular effort or when your position is uncomfortable.
If you don’t exert less muscular effort and improve the position of your
body the excessive effort or discomfort might persist and increase.
Maintaining your position comfortable is more important than remaining
still.
Don’t remain still if your position is uncomfortable.
If the position of your body is not as near to a completely developed
cross-legged position as you can experience comfortably in your present
physical condition or if your breathing is not free or if you’re not supporting
your position upright nearly effortlessly then any position that you hold still
might become uncomfortable or numb.
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.
Standing your backbone upright and curved
or leaned forward far enough to press the ends of your thighs at your knees
downward supports more of your weight
on the ends of your shins as near as possible to your knees. The muscular effort
that you exert is distributed among the muscles beneath your thighs and
posterior and at the sides and back of your body
and the muscles at the front of your body rest more than they rest when you
support your position upright ordinarily.
6 Your muscular effort will change from supporting the weight of your
body and motion to maintaining an integrated position and supporting your
position upright will need less muscular effort.
Your legs, hips and backbone will gather minutely into more integrated
and mutually supporting positions while you remain seated still, your breathing
will become more free and thorough and your position become more flexible and
vital.
3 Tiring
1 Tiring as the word is used here is an experience in your muscles that
exert effort for you to breathe and to support and move your body.
The tiring that’s
described here is the tiring that you experience while you maintain a position
of simple yoga still to benefit from the position of your body.
2 Tiring can help you to maintain the position of your body when you’re
seated cross-legged in the position that’s as near to a completely developed
cross-legged position as you can experience comfortably in your present
physical condition. When you intend to be the best person that
you can be and allow your breathing to be free and thorough and straighten your
backbone as well as you can with a small muscular effort, when you’re seated
cross-legged on 3 firm bases of support and standing your backbone upright and
curved or leaned forward far enough so that when you condense the muscles of
your abdomen inward to exhale the following inhalation of your breathing can be
effortless, then maintaining your position still will be beneficial as long as
your position is comfortable.
Tiring won’t help you to maintain a position seated on a
chair. Chapter 5 part 4 and
chapter 11 describe the architecture and benefits of being seated in a
cross-legged position on 3 bases of support compared with being seated on a
chair.
Tiring as the word is used here does not refer to being 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 refer to losing patience or being unwilling to maintain a
beneficial position of your body.
3 Tiring in the muscles that support your body
begins when you exert effort to support your position upright and continues and
increases until you stop exerting effort and allow those muscles to rest.
Your muscles tire relatively soon when you use them in new ways even
when you practice yoga as well as you can. You
might need to practice yoga for at least a few minutes nearly every day for
several weeks or months to strengthen muscles that you're using in new ways.
You don’t need to think
about tiring any longer than the few moments that you need to improve your
position or rest.
4 Experiencing tiring in the muscles that support your body upright can help
you to perceive and control your physical position more precisely.
When you’re seated in a
beneficial cross-legged position, supporting your posterior (hips and the ends
of your thighs at your hips) firmly, and supporting the ends of your shins as
near as possible to your knees firmly -
Standing your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward far enough
to press the ends of your thighs at your knees downward -
Causes the muscles beneath your thighs and posterior and at the sides
and back of your body to exert more effort than they exert ordinarily to
support your position upright and -
Allows the muscles at the front of your body to exert less effort than
they exert to support your position upright ordinarily and your breathing will
be more free and thorough than it is ordinarily.
Your feet, ankles and
the upper sides of your shins and thighs rest and the ends of your shins at
your ankles will rotate minutely, the upper side forward, lower side backward
and your feet will tend to move upward. The minute rotations that will occur in the
positions of your feet, ankles and the ends of your shins at your ankles while
you remain seated still are described in Chapters 2 and 4.
5 When the muscles that support your body seated upright become too
tired to continue to exert effort to support your position upright they will
need to rest.
Then alternative sets of muscles will exert effort to support your
position upright while you remain seated still for a while longer.
You can remain seated still in a beneficial cross-legged position for a longer
time while alternative sets of muscles exert effort to support your position
upright, allowing the muscles that previously supported your position to rest.
When the alternative sets of muscles that exert effort to support your
position tire and stop exerting effort then the muscles that exerted effort
previously and were resting will exert effort again.
Alternating sets of muscles will exert effort to support your position and rest
and exert effort again until fatigue accumulates in most of the muscles that
support your position.
When
fatigue accumulates in many of the muscles that support your position and many
of those muscles become too tired to support your position upright any longer many
of those muscles will stop exerting effort and parts of your position will
loosen and fall minutely. Your slightly changed position will cause some
of your muscles to support your position in new ways and small beneficial
tensions will stretch some ligaments to support your position more securely.
The muscles that exert
effort in new ways and small beneficial stretching will combine to gather your
legs, hips and backbone minutely into more integrated positions while you
remain seated still. You will be able to perceive and control the improved
position more precisely than you were able to control your position previously
and your position will become more comfortable and vital.
6 Most of the muscles that support your position upright will
eventually tire so much that they cannot exert effort any longer and they’ll
stop exerting effort to support your position upright.
Don’t continue to remain seated still to
benefit from the position of your body after most of the muscles that support
your position have become too tired to support your position upright nearly
effortlessly.
If you continue to exert
effort in the muscles that support your position after those muscles have
become too tired to support your position upright nearly effortlessly that will
cause tensions in your abdomen and chest and your breathing won’t be free.
7 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 hips and abdomen and in front of your hips and abdomen. 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 hips and abdomen.
When you’re seated on a chair, alternating sets of muscles don’t exert
effort and rest to support your position upright when the muscles that support
your position upright become tired. When you’re seated on a chair with your feet
supported on the floor like when you’re standing, most of your weight is
supported beneath your posterior (hips) and abdomen, and a comparatively 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 remain seated upright 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 very 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 a structure of natural positions of
your legs, hips and backbone, small muscular effort and rest.
You maintain a balance of muscular effort and rest in the muscles that support
your body upright during all of the time that you remain seated still in a
position of simple yoga. To reliably experience a balance of 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 also experience rest in
parts of your body after some time has passed. Chapters 1 and 2 describe these events in a
beginner’s cross-legged position and Chapter 4 describes these events in a
developing cross-legged position.
2 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
parts of your body that need to rest 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 if you exert excessive muscular effort or
tolerate discomfort while you remain seated still.
If you hold your body still when you’re not
concerned with maintaining the best position that you can then any position
that you hold still will become uncomfortable or numb.
3 Difficulty standing your backbone upright or difficulty remaining alert or
still might be caused by being too tired to exert the muscular effort that you
need to support your body upright.
You might need to rest an average of 8-10 hours every 24 hours to
have enough energy to stand your backbone upright nearly effortlessly when
you’re learning how to remain seated still to benefit from the position of your
body.
You can rest on a firm
and comfortable support. Every
part of your body that’s supported on the surface beneath you including your
hips, knees and ankles, shoulders, arms and head should be supported firmly and
comfortably when you recline to rest. You might not rest thoroughly when you
recline to rest if the support beneath any part of your body is not firm and
comfortable.
4 When you’re seated in the best cross-legged position that you can
experience comfortably in your present physical condition and you fall asleep,
you continue to experience some of the benefits of your physical position that
you experience when you’re actively maintaining the best position that you can. You won't experience
harm from falling asleep when you’re seated in a beneficial cross-legged
position.
Don’t rely on falling asleep in a cross-legged
position to experience the benefits of your physical position. Don’t
plan to end a session of being seated in a beneficial cross-legged position by
falling asleep, expecting to benefit from falling asleep in the cross-legged
position. If you sit cross-legged to benefit from falling asleep your position
won’t be reliably beneficial.
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 that 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 physical concerns of the method to experience a reliably
beneficial position.