There’s no virtue in being right, only in being free.
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Day: April 22, 2012
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Offering #2
A practice (something on the order of 30 minutes)
- Tadasana (Mountain Pose) > Side Bends
- Tadasana > Utthanasana (Simple Forward Fold) > Ardha Utthanasana (Half-Fold) > Tadasana (Repeat Several times)
- Surya Namaskar A (Tadasana > Utthanasana > Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog) > Palankasana (Plank pose) > Bhujangasana (Cobra pose) > Adho Mukha Svanasana > Utthanasana > Tadasana) (Repeat twice)
- Surya Namaskar A w/ Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)
- Surya Namaskar A w/ Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I) > Parsvottanasana (Intense side stretch)
- Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Downward Facing Tree – AKA Handstand)
- Eka Pada Rajakapotasana Prep (Pigeon, w/ thigh stretch)
- Agnistambhasana (Fire Logs)
- Eka Pada Rajakapotasana II Prep (Lunge thigh stretch)
- Shalabhasana (Locust Pose)
- Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
- Ardha Dhanurasana (Opposite hand/foot from table)
- Balasana (Child’s pose)
- Ardha Matseyandrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes)
- Gomukhasana (Cow-face pose)
- Janu Sirsasana (Knee to head)
- Omega (Open Cobbler’s pose)
- Jathara Parivartanasana (Supine Twist)
- Savasana
Some contemplations (consider one a day, in order, repeating as time permits):
- What pose releases the most tension in your body, and what pose causes the most tension in your body?
- What part of your body finds the greatest release of tension? What part of your body finds the least release of tension?
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pratyakṣā ‘numānā ‘ ‘gamāḥ pramāṇāni
What is right thought? Right thought is direct perception, deduction, and scriptural testimony–that is, the things you have experienced, the things that you can reason about and the ideas that have endured the test of time.
These all sound like good things–they are ways to try and see the world as it is, which is part of the fundamentals of yoga–so how could these be manifestations of the vrtti? This xkcd cartoon would seem to sum it up:
Being right can easily put us on a path of distraction, when we need not just to be right, but to be acknowledged as right; ultimately, when we decide to impose our will on the world around us. The more sophisticated our practice, the more we understand freedom in our bodies and in our hearts, the more we realize that we can never impose freedom, that we can only try to help others see how they are limiting themselves. They have to find their freedom themselves.