Kimhonam
Enthusiast
Jul 14, 2007, 5:56 PM
Post #5 of 8
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...Yoga is less about semantics and more about practice so please accept this attempt to clarify ' a stiff board' from someone who has studied both psychology and applied linguistics and found both to be but fragments of yoga. Firstly and lastly relax and be natural as to be thinking 'Oh my body isnt but should be like a stiff board' isnt savasana. What is involved in 'a stiff board' is perspective. If one reads the apparent quote from Pattabhi Jois, “like a stiff board, savasana is correct” and understands it from the perspective that savasana is practiced after other more strenuous asanas then perhaps it makes more sense. After practice we know the body is strengthened and tuned. It also LOOKS strengthened and tuned. The practitioner can 'feel' the skin surface blood vessels are vibrant and active and the onlooker can SEE that the skin appears stronger due to it being healthy and taught. Hence the healthy taught or 'stiff' LOOK. Another perspective that may have influenced Pattabhi Jois choice of words is that to the mind of a human vegetarian 'a stiff board' is a more likely associated image/thought than say -a slab of fresh meat- as might be the image/thought in the mind of a carnivore. Whilst practicing savasana one doesnt SEE so much as free oneself and if one is practicing well and the mind is freed from bodily consciousness one doesnt 'feel' much either. So that in a good savasana there is really no need to concern what the body looks like and much less to try to make it fit an abstract image. In your practice of yoga please remember that words are abstract concepts, that language is an ever evolving human construction and that good savasana practice is experienced when the mind is carefree. There is no need to be thinking 'Oh my body isnt but should be like a stiff board'.
warm regards
Peter
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