Over Practice**

[Guest guest]

Dear Ardas Kaur,

 

Thank you for a very important question. And actually you have the response

in your letter. Listen to yourself, your body, your mental and emotional

state. The answers are obvious.

 

The first time I went to Sadhana, I did the full set at 4 am and it took me

5 days to recuperate. This is not good.

 

There are intelligent guidelines and there is intuitive intelligence. A

combination of the two is the best policy. Like combining the best of the

masculine and the feminine.

 

Many of the sets and yoga practices are for young men. A woman can burn

herself out and not know it because of the kundalini energy which sustains

us. There are no points in the end when you have no kidney power or

adrenals left because you stressed yourself out either with your lifestyle,

addictions, fear or too much macho running or an over zealous "spiritual"

path. If we process the energy, we will advance much faster than if we

burn ourselves out. Again, the feminine and masculine have to be balanced.

 

SAt Nam.

 

Gururattan Kaur

 

I include your letter again. Well done.

 

> I wonder if any experienced practitioners have noticed a phenomenon

> like "overtraining" related to KY practice?

>

> I ask because I have dealt with overtraining related to running.

> Symptoms are reluctance to run, chronic exhaustion,

> sleep disruptions, chronic muscle soreness, predisposition

> to injury and it just gets uglier from there.

>

> One of the best ways to avoid overtraining when running is to listen

> to your bodymind; if you really feel averse to running, that is a warning

sign

> of overtraining and indicates you might be better taking the day off.

> Mild depression/lack of enthusiasm for the run is the first overtraining

> symptom most people notice. And most people ignore it, considering

> it a sign of laziness or some such.

>

> I think I have noticed a phenomenon a bit like overtraining in my

> sadhana. It seems very physical but also energetic? It happens

> when I have just taken a class and done a whole new set for example.

> If I have a really intense and grueling practice one day,

> where a LOT of energy moves, the next

> day I may be tender, irritable and uninterested in doing any of the new

> exercises that made me that way.

>

> I have experienced being downright

> averse to practice, as in it is a tossup between doing my

> yoga set and going to the dentist in terms of which might be more

> pleasurable. On those days I skipped, and the next day or the day after

> my enthusiasm returned and practice was no problem. I don't think

> I hurt my growth process by skipping on those days, but I would be willing

to

> hear another point of view.

>

> I suspect one issue here might be learning to distinguish between

> resistance to change vs. warning messages from the bodymind

> saying "ENOUGH has been done and i NEED another day to process

> out the effects of your last practice, PLEASE!"

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 02/07/2001 11:51:56 PM W. Europe Standard Time,

rattanak writes:

 

> There are intelligent guidelines and there is intuitive intelligence. A

> combination of the two is the best policy. Like combining the best of the

> masculine and the feminine.

>

> Many of the sets and yoga practices are for young men. A woman can burn

> herself out and not know it because of the kundalini energy which sustains

> us.

 

I really appreciate these points and it felt good to read them.

It helps so much to hear important things

in stereo- from one's inner Source, and also

from an outer voice. It is such a service when anyone

speaks from their inner Source.

 

Masculine and feminine paths...

well, I have felt at times that I am simply talking

"past" some men in my life on matters

related to discipline and goalsetting... What is this goofy

"rationality thing, anyway? I think it is just a preference for order

even at very high cost.

:-)

 

Setting fixed goals from a

rational/intellectual basis

is for me a prescription for burnout and real emotional/physical

damage, and I have learned

the hard way to be wary of it... but it works so well for some

people!

 

And why does it not work

for me? Because it doesn't. And so I have learned

to think twice about the

recommendations of people who do grow in this way, but this is still for me

somewhat uncomfortable especially if the

advice-giver is sincere and knowledgeable.

 

When I say I need to modify a plan, or something doesn't suit me,

I run a risk of being judged and disregarded

as "less enlightened", "less dedicated",

less whatever. Since my self-confidence developed, it is no longer

so excruciating for me to be judged in this way. But as you pointed

out, self-doubt is a key issue here. It takes self-trust to value

one's own inner guidance over the directives of the experts and authorities.

 

Validation from other people does count. It is necessary, it does matter.

I don't need it all the time, but if it never comes, there is a problem.

I think it is romantic dogma that says if we only trust and believe enough

in ourselves, then what other people say won't make any difference.

If we are all one/interconnected, then what

others say and think of us matters

a whole heck of a lot.

 

It is good to question oneself carefully, because self-deception/misguidedness

is always a possibility, but past a certain point self-doubt becomes

Self-betrayal.

 

(Living in Germany, I feel steeped in these issues.

And it seems pretty much always true around the world

that some "clubs" just don't want

you as a member if you question the party line. We are all such human

beings!)

 

No expert has to live inside my body,

cope with my emotions, my environment,

and grow with my limitations... if s/he did, s/he would probably be

giving some different advice. Advice that would not suit other people

so well as it suits me, and then they would be in the same spot

I'm in!

 

I have trained physically alongside men in weightlifting, martial arts

and running, and I have noticed (to generalize) that they attack the practices

differently and get different results.

(I might whisper that some of the men I have trained

with seem to get injured comparatively often and I connect this

to an adherence to a written or set-in-stone schedule for training,

that has no respect for the way bodies and needs change from day to day...)

I admire the muscle-building and regenerative capacities that (young)

men enjoy. Wish I had 'em!

 

I have also met many men who have learned to be flexible and sensitive

to their own needs, aging is probably

a teacher. I am not trying to stress the gender issue too strongly

or bash men.

 

I have certainly met women who

were rigid zealots in how they practiced, disregarding all intuition,

rigid to the point of cracking (they do seem to burn out fast). I think

the "punishment" (consequences)

for living against one's intuition can be very harsh. I think they

are harsher for some people than for others- maybe people

on the "feminine path" Gururattan mentioned fall harder

when they betray the inner Source.

 

I have been, myself, ~all~ of these people, and seen all this

stuff in me, and practiced/lived in all these destructive

ways. So I'm reporting where I've been. As much bad sadhana

as I have got behind me, I think I am perhaps ready to do it a

little better now! There is a lot to learn and a lot of ideas to sort through.

 

Sat Nam

 

Ardas Kaur

[Guest guest]

Dear Ardas Kaur,

 

Your letter was very insightful. I will save it for others who bring up the

same topic in the future.

 

As a planet and as individuals we are in the process of breaking through

mass consciousness to shift paradigms. It is a challenge for all of us.

Both masculine and feminine energies have been distorted. Now we must find

and embody their higher expressions.

 

Sat Nam,

 

Gururattan Kaur