In an asana, the mind has to reach inside the body to find a quiet space until a point comes where perfect balance is felt. If the mind is wandering while practicing, then one is not fully present, and there can be no union. Involvement, interpenetratio n and insight are the required qualities for the practitioner.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for mindfulness and presence in practice for achieving balance and unity.
Geeta Iyengar highlights that true mastery in asana practice involves a deep connection between the mind and body. It requires the practitioner to quiet the mind, achieving a state of full presence, which allows for a harmonious experience. Without focus and awareness, one cannot attain the desired state of balance or union, which are essential for genuine insight and understanding in practice.
In practice
An instructor might use this quote to encourage students to focus during yoga class.
Thin ribbons of fear snake bluely through you like a system of rivers. We need a cloudburst or soothing landscape fast, to still this panic. Maybe a field of dracaena, or a vast stand of sugar pines—generous, gum-yielding trees—to fill our minds with vegetable wonder and keep dread at bay.
Civilization has been a continuous struggle of the individual or of groups of individuals against the State and even against "society," that is, against the majority subdued and hypnotized by the State and State worship.
Think of our physical sustenance. It is truly heaven-sent. The necessities of air, food, and water all come to us as gifts from a loving Heavenly Father.
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
Just watching an animal closely can take you out of your mind and bring you into the present moment, which is where the animal lives all the time - surrendered to life.
How much more suffering is caused by the thought of death than by death itself.
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