The
integrating potential of a beneficial position of your body
You can experience the integrating potential of your body when you’re seated cross-legged on three bases of support. The integrating potential of an upright position of your body can be experienced thoroughly when you’re seated in a beneficial cross-legged position on three firm bases of support. Your hips and the ends of your thighs at your hips in a seated position are one base of support. The end of your shin as near as possible to each knee is a base of support. Gathering your ankles together 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 standing your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward far enough to press the ends of your shins as near as possible to your knees downward on the upper side of your ankles and feet beneath them supports your weight on three bases firmly enough for you to experience the integrating potential of the upright position of your body. Each more developed cross-legged position supports more of your weight beneath the ends of your shins nearer to your knees.
The proportions of length and range of motion
of your backbone with your hips, thighs and shins have the potential to be
gathered into progressively more integrated positions. The architecture of your backbone with your
hips, thighs and shins and their potential to be gathered together into
integrated positions allow the natural and nearly effortless progression of
cross-legged positions that are described in this text.
You’re not seated on three bases of support
on a chair or kneeling. Being seated on a
chair with your feet supported on the floor like when you’re standing supports
most of the weight of your body beneath your posterior and supports your feet,
ankles and knees together. Your posterior is one base of support. Your feet,
ankles and knees are located close together when you’re seated on a chair so
the support beneath your feet, ankles and knees together is one base of
support. Your posterior and legs combined are only two bases of support. Your
feet, ankles and knees support enough of your weight to stand your backbone
upright and curved or leaned forward far enough to press the ends of your
thighs at your knees downward. This allows your breathing to be free and your
position to be comfortable. You can experience the integrating potential of an
upright position of your body for a relatively short time when you’re seated on
a chair or kneeling.
A major channel of your energy is located
parallel to and in front of your backbone extending from the lowest level to
the highest level and your head, and a minor channel is located at the left and
right sides of the major channel. The minor
channels at the left and right sides have some different characteristics one
from the other as the activities of some internal organs are different in the
left and right sides of your body.
Major centers of your energy are located at
five levels of the major energy channel. The lowest center of energy is
located at the lowest level of your backbone and the highest is located at the
crown of your head. Each energy center has some unique characteristics and
contributions to your awareness and control.
Energy terminals are located at each joint of
your left and right hips, knees and ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists.
Energy pathways branch from your energy
centers and terminals to every part of your body.
The motion and rest of energy in your major and minor energy channels, centers, terminals and pathways influences and is influenced by the positions and motions of your body.
You need to be 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, supporting your
posterior firmly and supporting the ends of your shins as near as possible to
your knees firmly to benefit reliably from the position of your body while you
remain seated still.
Following your intention to be the best
person you can be and allowing your breathing to be free and thorough, straightening
your backbone as well as you can with a small muscular effort causes beneficial
motion and rest of energy in the energy channels throughout your body. Intending to be the best person that you can be and allowing your breathing to be free and thorough and straightening
your backbone as well as you can with a small muscular effort are the first,
second and third main concerns of simple yoga.
It’s natural and beneficial to straighten your backbone as well as you can with a small muscular effort. Everything that’s described in this text is experienced while you’re intending to be the best person that you can be and allowing your breathing to be free and thorough and straightening your backbone as well as you can with a small muscular effort.
Gathering your ankles together as near to one
to the other and as near to your hips and abdomen as you can support them
comfortably improves the beneficial motion and rest of energy in your body. You can help to connect the
energy at both of your ankles together by maintaining your shins (between your
knees and ankles) in contact (touching) and as near to your hips and your
abdomen as you can support them comfortably. Similarly you can help to connect
the energy at both of your wrists to your thighs and hips and your abdomen by
supporting your forearms (between your elbows and wrists) on the upper side of
your thighs beneath them at your hips, with one hand resting on the other,
palms upward, and the small finger side of both hands pressed lightly on your
abdomen.
You need to stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward far enough to press the ends of your thighs at your knees downward, to benefit reliably from the position of your body while you remain seated still. Chapter 5 describes that the vertebrae of your backbone are solid, and that they’re stacked one upon the other, and that there are minute spaces between them, so that when you stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward far enough to press the ends of your thighs at your knees downward, the vertebrae at every level of your backbone move minutely toward improved alignment between each vertebrae and the vertebrae below and above it, correcting any excessive curves or stiffness there might be in your backbone. The ends of your shins as near as possible to your knees are supported firmly on the upper side of your ankles and feet beneath them or on small firm cushions, and the ends of your shins at your ankles rotate minutely, the upper side forward, lower side backward.
You experience the benefits of simple yoga at every stage of progress of your physical position. Chapter 8 describes how you can verify that the upright position of your backbone is beneficial, by curving or leaning forward far enough so that you can contract the muscles of your abdomen inward to exhale, then relaxing those muscles to allow the following inhalation to be effortless. A beneficial position of your body that you hold still improves while you hold the position still.
In every beneficial cross-legged position
your ankles are gathered as near as possible together and as near to your hips
and your abdomen as you can maintain them comfortably. Every
beneficial cross-legged position develops naturally to become a more developed
position while you remain seated still.
In each more developed cross-legged position, you maintain your ankles as near as possible together and nearer to your hips and nearer to your abdomen.
In every beneficial cross-legged position
your hands are supported on your thighs or knees, or your hands are gathered
together and supported one hand on the other –palms upward- on your thighs at
your hips and pressed lightly on your abdomen.
In a rudimentary seated position on a flat
support with your legs extended forward, your ankles are located far from your
hips and abdomen.
Your ankles are located one beside the other
or crossed one over the other if that’s comfortable. 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 back of your body to exert effort or stretch, so that you can stand your
backbone upright and curved or leaned forward easily and for a longer time in a
rudimentary seated position than when you’re seated in any other position
that’s not cross-legged.
Your wrists and hands are supported on your
thighs or knees or gathered together and supported one hand on the other –palms
upward- on your thighs at your hips and pressed lightly on your abdomen. The muscular effort or
stretching of the muscles beneath your thighs and posterior and at the back of
your body and comparative rest of the muscles at the upper sides of your shins
and thighs and at the front of your body allow the inhalations of your
breathing to be effortless.
A rudimentary seated position develops
naturally for you to become able to place your legs and hips in a beginner’s
cross-legged position. When you maintain a rudimentary seated
position for at least a few minutes nearly every day for several months you
will become able to place your legs and hips in a beginner’s cross-legged
position.
In a position seated on a chair with your
feet supported on the floor like when you’re standing, your ankles are located
far from your hips and your abdomen. When you stand your backbone upright
and curved or leaned forward far enough to press the ends of your thighs at
your knees downward, the muscles beneath your thighs and posterior don’t exert
effort or stretch, so you can stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned
forward beneficially for a relatively short time.
Your wrists and hands are supported on your
thighs or knees or gathered together and supported one hand on the other –palms
upward- on your thighs at your hips and pressed lightly on your abdomen.
A position seated on a chair does not allow
free motion of energy in your thighs and legs and becomes uncomfortable or numb
relatively soon. A position seated on a chair does not progress
to become a more developed position.
A position seated on a chair is described in
this text because you can experience many of the benefits of simple yoga for a
short time when you’re seated on a chair.
In a position of kneeling, your ankles are
located beneath and near to your hips and beneath and relatively near to your
abdomen.
When you stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward far enough
to press the ends of your thighs at your knees downward, the muscles beneath
your thighs and posterior and at the back of your body exert effort or stretch,
so you can stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward
beneficially for a comparatively longer time than you can when you’re seated on
a chair.
Your wrists and hands are supported on your
thighs or knees or gathered together and supported one hand on the other –palms
upward- on your thighs at your hips and pressed lightly on your abdomen.
A position of kneeling does not allow free
motion of energy in your thighs and legs and becomes uncomfortable or numb
relatively soon. A position of kneeling does not progress to
become a more developed position.
A position of kneeling is more integrated
than a position seated on a chair because your ankles are located nearer to
your hips and nearer to your abdomen than when you’re seated on a chair.
Chapter 1 describes the main concerns that you can follow to place your legs, hips and backbone in the positions that are described in this text. You can do everything that's described in Chapter 1 at a beginner's level after reading Chapter 1.
All of the positions that are described in
this text can be experienced spontaneously, without needing to learn or think
about a method.
Maintaining the most integrated position of
your body that you can for even one cycle of inhaling and exhaling your
breathing is thoroughly beneficial.
This
text describes how you can combine natural positions of your legs, hips and
backbone, small muscular effort and rest to be seated in a beneficial position
of your body
1 Chapter 1 is a complete description of
the method
of simple yoga. This chapter contains
enough information for you to begin and progress in simple yoga without
personal help from an instructor. All of the following chapters provide
detailed information about the method.
2 Detailed description of a beginner’s cross-legged position
3 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
4 Progress in the development of a
cross-legged position and how to lift your ankle with your hands to
support it on the upper side of your opposite leg
5 Main concerns of simple yoga
6 Information that can help you to be seated
in a beneficial position on a chair
7 How to support a kneeling position
8 Why you need to curve or lean your
position forward slightly and how to verify that the position of your backbone is beneficial
9 Positions, muscular effort and rest of your shoulders, arms, hands and headg
10 A friend can help to verify some features of your
position of yoga
11 When you’re seated in a beneficial cross-legged position the lowest levels of your hips and both knees form a tripod structure beneath your body that supports your backbone upright more thoroughly than any other position of your body
12 Diagrams of the architecture of
your legs, hips and backbone when they’re gathered in four progressively more
integrated positions
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