Daily Quote, Friday February 20, 2009

Good morning!

Well, the snow wasn't as bad as many expected and hopefully that's the end for a while!

As I was reading the daily quote for today, I was reminded again of how many yoga students take one aspect of a yoga posture and substitute it for the whole, so that the part definies the whole, and becomes the element around which the posture is defined. The heels on the floor in Downward Dog or the top arm in the air in Revolved Trikonasana are common examples. Of course, this is a practice of self-definition, an action of the will, as the posture and the student are inseparable, just as the content of consciousness and consciousness are inseparable. In your yoga practice today or next time you practice, take each posture and observe yourself, take the posture as a mirror of your deepest concern, which might turn out to be surprisingly superficial, and observe how you practice. Watching, listening and seeing yourself without images and observe if one part is representing the whole posture. Make a list of the postures and the essentialisations, the part your use to define the whole, and send it into the blog.

Ask yourself as you practice, do you fully understand the implication of using the will to become someone?

Here's the daily quote:

In the action of will, one dominant desire is imposing itself upon other desires.

...when we try to break down our conditioning through the action of will, what happens? One desire becomes dominant and resists the various other desires - which means that there is always the whole problem of suppression, resistance, and so-called sublimation. Does any of this free the mind from conditioning?

I wonder if we fully understand the implication of using the will to get rid of something, or to become something. What is will? Surely will is, in itself, a way of conditioning the mind, is it not? In the action of will, one dominant desire is imposing itself upon other desires, one wish is over-riding other motives and urges. This process obviously creates inward opposition, and hence there is ever conflict. So, will cannot help us to free the mind.

Collected Works, Vol. X - 26