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16. Thingkingly Doing and Thoughtfully Doing

You were distinguishing between "thinkingly doing" and "thoughtfully doing." Can you explain that?

There is thinking in the learning process, "How should I do more? Where should I do more? When should I do more? How to do more?" You are thinking even in learning. But then, that's why I said, "thinkingly doing" and "thoughtfully doing," are two different things.

When you are thinkingly doing Trikonasana, you always bother about this foot, that foot, this toe, that toe, this ankle, that ankle, this lower leg, that lower leg. You are constantly thinking, "Have I done here, have I done there," from the toe to the fingertips. There are millions of points and you go on questioning those millions of points; you are constantly moving from joint to joint, from muscle to muscle, from bone to bone, that is "thinkingly doing." That is not "thoughtfully doing." "Thoughtfully doing" is a reflective state, "thinkingly doing" is a thinking state. It is not a reflective state.

When you are learning, you have got to think; you don't do it thoughtlessly. You have got to think while you are learning. In class, when you are taught, you should also think what is being said and how it can be implemented. If the teacher says, "Open your sternum" you should know how to open the sternum, what is to be done to open the sternum. So you have got to think, there also. But it is a different thinking process; it is more motorized thinking process, related to motor activity.

But here it is related to psychological activity, when it is reflection, when it is thoughtfully doing. Anyway, basically the practice must be divided in two parts: learning and consolidating. And when you learn, when you practice for consolidation you will mature, you will get the cream of the pose. And every degree of the pose has something to offer. Don't think that only when you have reached the ultimate final pose then only the fruit comes. No.

At every level, asana has something to offer. Even if you are in Janu Sirsasana and you are not able to take your head to the leg, the pose still offers you something. Don't think that all your body should be flat on the leg and you should be holding somewhere in the forearms, for Janu Sirsasana, to get the effects. Don't wait till you reach the "B.K.S. degree" of the pose to attain the fruits of it, because the fruit can be attained at every degree. You do not have to wait till you have reached the level of proficiency of the asana as in Light on Yoga to attain the fruit. At every level, the fruit is reaped. And try to taste that fruit of every pose, at every degree.


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