When asked to describe the Ashtanga yoga method I often include the fact that I do just about the same series of postures every day. “But doesn’t that get boring?” is often the response. Well, yes, to be perfectly honest, it does.
The physical body offers so much in the way of distraction – the aches, the pains, the tweaks, pops, and cracks. Yoga asana alleviates some of these; it adds others as well. By practicing the same postures in the same order with consistency the body becomes used to it. It’s a bit like unlocking a sticky bolt. The first few times you try it is difficult, you jiggle the key in the lock, push on the door, pull on it, etc. until the latch is finally thrown. As you use the lock over and over again you learn exactly how to insert the key, the right amount of pressure to apply, and so on – the lock opens easily for you each time. You eventually forget that throwing this particular latch was ever difficult and when you loan the keys to a friend are momentarily flummoxed when they have trouble with the bolt.
As the Ashtanga series becomes more accessible with practice I have to think less and less about what I am doing and boredom sets in. My mind wanders. Invariably I first consider what is for lunch. This is quite telling; my awareness has yet to rise above muladhara cakra. Lunch is a brief consideration and is quickly pushed to the side. What takes its place is much more interesting. My mind travels to the things that are affecting me the most: sometimes family issues, sometimes money worries, sometimes a love interest, sometimes a recent argument with a close friend. The list goes on and on. As my mind fixates emotion begins to build, not unlike a wave, until it crashes over me. This is when the work begins. This is when the roller coaster ride starts; the inner workings of my being tossed up, down, and sideways. This is when I hold on tight for fear of plummeting to my doom. Without boredom, without the monotony of doing the same thing day in and day out, this cannot happen. Posture after posture I process these emotions – not just mentally, but physically, twisting, turning, arching, folding. At the end of practice I usually feel better. If I don’t, I always have tomorrow to do the same thing all over again.
My philosophy teacher says that the educated masses dominating urban settings are too wrapped up in logic. If we can’t find a logical explanation, a sound reasoning, we are not satisfied. I guess that’s why I see him for philosophy; so that I can logically dissect my yoga practice – so that I can be satisfied. He posits that those in more rural settings, living close to the land, have less need and less desire for logical mind games and have a much easier time accepting a more devotional lifestyle.
He offered a story: There was a great philosopher, a very learned man, giving teachings at a center of education. A farming woman from a nearby village travelling on foot would bring fresh milk each day for the teacher and his students. It happened that there were several days of heavy rains and the dry riverbeds were flooded with water. Still the woman would come each day to deliver her milk. After some time the great philosopher asked the simple village woman how she was bringing the milk since the rivers had flooded and there were no bridges. The woman answered very plainly; the milk had to be brought and so the Lord allowed her to walk across the rivers to bring it. The great teacher could not believe this and so he asked her to show him. The woman acquiesced and took him to the river banks where she nimbly stepped out onto the surface of the water. Upon arrival at the center of the river she called back to the philosopher asking him, a great learned master of many disciplines, to follow her out. He took a few steps and his feet sank beneath the surface. He could not follow her.
Emotions are not at all logical; sometimes they are not even rational. We all know this. We all understand there is a difference between feeling and thinking. We can feel heartache, the dull pain radiating from the center of the chest, though there is no brain located there.
Practicing the same series each day gives my mind and heart the space they need and deserve. The space to process and recover from the emotional upheavals of life, be they logical or illogical. Time heals all wounds, so the old saying goes. So I take some time to be bored, to do something others may find monotonous, each day. Given time, I can heal.
