Experiencing
energy, effort, tiring and rest in the muscles that
support your body upright
while 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
of the positions and benefits of yoga that are 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 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 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 be seated in a beneficial
position of your body 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 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. 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 is beneficial. That stimulus can extend the time that the muscles
that support your body upright can exert effort
before they become tired and can prolong the time that you can straighten and stand your
backbone upright beneficially 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 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
is unaware of the inherent power of your mind and best thinking, and the
natural concerns 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 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 without you needing to do something
unusual. 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 continue to move -or rest for some
time afterward, still influenced by the exercise or medication.
That might interfere with exerting the muscular effort that you need to support
your body in a beneficial position of yoga
afterward. A warm bath or rest can reduce tensions without interfering
with maintaining 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, vitality 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 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 refers to anything that you might 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 a well as you can 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 straighten your backbone as well as you can and you might not
experience the benefits of simple yoga.
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.
The
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 or 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 drove or 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 be
seated
cross-legged supporting the ends of your shins at your knees on small firm
cushions or wedges of cloth, 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 regularly such as nearly every day, the tensions in
your abdomen and legs might be so acute and 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 beneath them. When you stop driving a
motor vehicle regularly, your cross-legged position
can progress gradually toward more of your weight being supported
beneath your shins at your knees. This relation between
progress in the development of a cross-legged
position and driving a motor vehicle is relevant to
a cross-legged position that you can experience by practicing the method that’s
described in this text. You
might be able to experience a developed cross-legged position due to different
causes and conditions such as natural
flexibility and appropriate exercises.
Remaining seated still 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 is a remedy that can relieve excessive or confused tensions in your
abdomen and legs.
Separate your body from direct contact with the floor if you remain
seated still on a floor. Direct contact between
your body and a floor can drain your energy while you
remain still or if you rest on a floor. You need a natural fiber rug or
mat, or four to eight layers of folded bath towel, to separate your body from
direct
contact with the floor. Also you should not be able to feel the
floor being cooler
than your body. That can
drain your energy. You might need to add extra layers of mat or folded towel to insulate
you from feeling a floor that’s cooler than your
body if you’re seated on a floor to benefit from the position of your body.
Your knees, calves, ankles or feet might sometimes ache and seem to
become weak overnight. They might have become chilled
during the previous day when you were walking, standing or
seated in a cold place, or while you were sleeping. You might need to wear
extra clothing or cover your crossed
legs with a blanket to keep your legs and feet warm. Those discomforts can happen also
if you don’t
walk or exercise your legs enough –or if you exert too
much effort in the muscles of your legs, or if you have reduced circulation in your legs
or insufficient vitamin C.
Good food, warm baths,
self-massage and resting your legs in horizontal positions can usually relieve
discomfort from exerting excessive 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 -not fluctuating,
stable -still after your weight has pressed down onto 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. You might need to prepare the seat
that will support your body to ensure that the support beneath
your body will be firm when you prepare to remain seated still to benefit from the position of
your body.
The cushion or stack of folded cloth beneath
your posterior and any rug or cloth beneath your feet and ankles should be
firm, 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. And you can remedy the hardness of the floor beneath your feet and
ankles by covering it with several layers of folded
cloth when you prepare to remain seated still.
6 The main concerns of simple yoga are internal. The method is
centered in intending to be the best person that you can be while you're
practicing yoga, allowing your breathing to be free and 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. Too much
warmth can make you drowsy and cold can make your muscles tense. Turbulence of air caused by a
rotating fan or machine powered ventilation agitate the
natural motion and rest of energy in your body so
that your muscles cannot exert effort and rest naturally
even when your position is correct.
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 that will distract the motion 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 when you can hear conversation or
automobile sounds. Overheard conversations and automobile sounds communicate
the rhythms of other peoples' feelings
and motion 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 you might plan to practice
yoga 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 physical
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.
Don’t think much about a subject that you view as negative or
unimportant while 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 be and the following
concerns of
simple yoga.
You
cannot control energy reliably that you experience as an effect of reinforcing
thoughts of criticism or resistance against any subject or concern.
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 physical position for longer
than you need to remedy it as well as you can. If you focus your
attention on a difficulty of your physical
position for 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 freely in your body, your breathing won’t
be free and you won't be able to maintain a beneficial position.
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. Don't remain still if you
feel uncomfortable. Move freely to diminish excessive tensions and to
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. You should move or rest.
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 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, muscular 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 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 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 reliably experience beneficial motion and rest of energy in your body. Your breathing might not be free and you
might not be able to straighten your backbone as well as you can with a small
muscular effort.
Don’t avoidably be seated 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 your experience of yoga in ways that you cannot know or control.
Don’t talk casually about yoga or health, nor about your energy, tiring,
rest or diet. Factors of your energy and body that you talk
about or imply are affected when you
talk about them and that affects the energy in your body
while you remain still.
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 a part of the position of your body.
The expression ‘exert
muscular effort’ means that you contract some muscles to breathe or to support
or move a part of the position of your body. Understanding energy as described
previously, you need to have sufficient energy accessible
in you at the present time to exert the
muscular effort that you need to breathe and to support or move a part of the position of your
body.
You need to exert
muscular effort to breathe and to straighten your backbone and to place and
maintain your body in the best position that you can experience in your present
physical condition. You need to continue to exert
muscular effort to breathe and to straighten and stand your
backbone upright 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.
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.
The energy in your body
won’t move or rest freely to maintain a beneficial position to remain seated
still if you exert excessive muscular effort or tolerate discomfort.
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. 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 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 maintain a beneficial position and
allow your breathing to be free. You can
maintain the balance of muscular
effort and rest that you need to support your position 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 adds an emotional stimulant to your experience
of remaining seated still 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 or supplement the effort that
you symbolize.
The
expression ‘with a small muscular effort’ does not imply 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’ should not be misunderstood to 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 Maintaining your position comfortable is more important than remaining
still.
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. When you perceive that you're exerting excessive
muscular effort or
experiencing discomfort while you’re
seated still, exert less muscular effort and move freely to improve an uncomfortable
part of your 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.
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.
6 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 seem to need less muscular effort.
Standing your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly
supports more of your weight on the ends of your shins at your knees. The
muscular effort that you exert is distributed among the muscles that support the back and sides of
your body, and your legs, hips and backbone gather into more integrated and
mutually supporting positions. Your breathing becomes
more free and thorough and your backbone and the upper levels of your body become more
flexible and vital.
3 Tiring
1 Tiring as the word is used here refers to an experience in your
muscles that exert effort for you to breathe and to support and move your body.
The tiring 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 a beneficial position of your body
when you’re seated cross-legged in a 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 position of your body is described in Chapters 4, 5 and 8.
Tiring won’t help you to maintain a seated
position on a chair. Chapter 5 part 4 describes the architecture
and benefits of being seated on 3 bases of support in a cross-legged position
compared with being seated on 2 bases of support on a chair.
3 When your have average health you have
enough energy to exert the small muscular effort that you need to maintain a
beneficial position seated upright and still.
When you intend to be the best person that you can be while you’re
practicing yoga, and -
Allow your breathing to be free and thorough, and –
Straighten your backbone as well as you can with a small muscular
effort, and you’re
Seated firmly 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, and you -
Stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward far enough so
that the inhalations of your breathing can be effortless, then -
Your position will be comfortable, vital and
beneficial and will develop naturally to become a more developed cross-legged
position. The position of your body improves minutely
while you remain seated still.
4 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.
Don’t tense the muscles that support your position to extend the time
that you can support your position upright when you’re remaining seated still
to benefit from the position of your body. The reason why you should not tense the
muscles that support your position upright to extend the time that you can
remain still to benefit from the position of your body is described in Chapter
12 part 7.
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.
5 Experiencing tiring in the muscles that support your body upright can help
you to perceive and control your physical position precisely.
The
muscles that exert effort to support your position upright will eventually tire
so much that they cannot exert effort any longer and then they’ll stop exerting
effort.
Don’t continue to remain seated still to benefit from the position of
your body after the muscles that exert effort to support your body have become
too tired to support your position upright nearly effortlessly. Continuing to exert effort in the muscles
that support your body after your muscles have become too tired to support your
position nearly effortlessly causes tensions in the muscles of your abdomen and
chest and your breathing cannot be free.
You don’t need to think about tiring any
longer than the few moments that you need to improve your position, or rest.
6 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 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 that exert effort to support your position tire
and stop exerting effort, the muscles that exerted effort previously and were
resting will exert effort again.
Alternating sets of muscles that support your position will exert effort and
rest and exert effort again until fatigue accumulates in most of the muscles
that support your position.
When fatigue accumulates in most of the muscles that support your
position upright, and the muscles that exerted effort become too tired to
support your position upright any longer, then some of the muscles will stop
exerting effort, and parts of the positions of your legs, hips and the upper
levels of your body will loosen and fall minutely. The improved positions of your legs, hips and
the upper levels of your body will cause some muscles to exert effort in new
ways to support your position upright, and small beneficial tensions will
stretch some muscles and ligaments beneficially.
The
muscles that exert effort in new ways and small beneficial stretching will
combine to move your legs, hips and the upper levels of your body 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 could
previously, and your position will be more comfortable and vital.
7 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.
8 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 at 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 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.
9 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 the level of your posterior (hips and the ends of your thighs at your
hips) as in -front of the level of your posterior. In comparison, when you’re seated in a
rudimentary position with your legs extended forward at the same level as your
posterior, your feet, ankles and shins are located directly in front of your
posterior. When you’re seated cross-legged with the ends of your shins at your
knees supported on the upper sides of your ankles and feet beneath them, your feet,
ankles and shins, and the ends of your thighs at your knees are located in
front of your posterior.
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 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 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 and still 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 when 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 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.
Every 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 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 comfortably upright
and still, you need to be 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. It's sufficient to maintain each part of
the position as well as you can.
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 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.
You experience the benefits of simple yoga at
every stage of progress of your physical 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 also 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 supported be 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 is not sleep. 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 if 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 or rest beneficially while 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 might become uncomfortable or numb.
4 When you fall asleep, while 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 that are described previously. You won't experience
harm from falling asleep, after you have placed your body 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 being 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 can 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 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, balance and strength.