Interview with Geetaji

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Chris: Were you always interested in yoga for women or did that evolve?

Geeta: I can't really say because Guruji had already written Light on Yoga so another general book would not have attracted people. So I wrote for women. If you want me to write for men, I can also write that without any problem. I don't accept the opinion that asanas are mild so they are good for women and men need something stronger. I can make it strong for men if they wish. Yoga has such a vast scope. So I would say that it evolved; I did not aim at it. Being a woman I could understand women's problems. And there is the answer for your earlier question. That's why you can read the mind. When we read our own mind - it's not actually reading the mind - but as you penetrate you understand the weaknesses of your mind. Then you need to see that this weakness doesn't become the cause for your downfall. So you have to see how you can overcome it, how you can cross it. That very process makes you understand. The person who knows his own mind, will better know the other's mind. And the more you penetrate in your mind you will know how you have to make the students penetrate in their mind.

Chris: So we might all have a particle of the weakness we see in someone else and thus be able to think that if I have even a slight weakness like that, what would it be like to have more of this. Do you think your own difficulties with your health have made you more understanding of other people's problems and perhaps com- passionate?

Geeta: Compassion is always needed. But we think that compassion means to be soft. If you are a sweet-talker, you are good to others. Suppose there is a polio case. If you have compassion, are you always going to carry the child? Your compassion is that you make that polio-affected child stand, walk, or do something so they don't become negative. Whatever little life is left, you make use of that life. And yes, perhaps my own suffering helps me understand the suffering of others.

Chris: You have told me that you went through a period of tremendous stiffness in your hips. And through that you may know what women are feeling when they complain of the same thing. But you are not going to tell them to avoid certain things; you are going to teach them how to work through it, aren't you?

Geeta: That's right. As I said, I don't worry about the pain. And you know if you really reach deeper then there is no pain. As in the class this morning when we did Virabhadrasana and everyone just bent the legs half way and stayed there. That invites more pain. Face the pain and bend! Then you know how the relief comes.

Chris: But you know it is very difficult in the West to explain to people that you have to go through a certain amount of pain to get some relief. They may even tolerate the pain but they often don't want to actually face it.

Geeta: That is what is the problem in teaching. How do you convince them? If you don't make them penetrate, it will all be a failure. Take the example of a ballet dancer. Ballet dancing can be painful. But suppose because of that they don't do ballet the way it has to be performed. Would you appreciate that? Would you call it a good ballet program? Wouldn't that bring the standard of ballet down? Would you allow that art to die in that manner? Now ballet is just art for the sake of art, it is not a healing art. But with yoga, if you say it is painful and you keep going on bringing the standard down and under doing, is it going to lead you where it should? The intuition and penetration we have been discussing will not come unless we reach that depth. Suppose from here you have to go to Pune city. In between there are many roads where you don't want to walk. They may be dirty; there may be bad traffic or whatever. But still you have to reach there. And once you reach the city those dirty streets or traffic are behind you. In the same way the crossroads in yoga will be there. So who has to cross them? We have to. You have to convince your students. Of course some may leave and give up. But this psychology you can't leave. The crossroads will be there. And it's not only a question of body pain. Mental agony will also be there. But how long can you hide? Suppose I want to look younger so I go on using make-up and polishing my nails. How long can I hide? You have to face the truth. If one does not face the pain in the present, the pain is stored for the future. It will be worse by that time.

Chris: Has your training in Ayurveda influenced your teaching?

Geeta: I don't think that Ayurveda has influenced my teaching. I was teaching before I did my Ayurveda. It helps to understand the constitution of a person and why they are behaving in a particular manner. Or when a disease is there you can understand in which way vata, pitta, or kapha is moving within to cause this kind of disease. If you are a patient we teach you certain things to help your problem. If you know Ayurveda, you can then relate it to yoga by knowing why a certain asana helped a specific problem. That is later, more theoretical work. While teaching I don't think of Ayurveda but I know that the very approach helps me to understand.

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