Guest guest Posted June 23, 2001 Report Share Posted June 23, 2001 Dear friends: > Ideally you should try to hold your toes and bring your head down >to touch the knees. Most people would not be able to do this, but This movement is an interesting mirror of our impulse to intellectualize this work. One of our troubles is that we do everything from our head, when what we really need to do is do everything from the heart. The actual goal of these forward stretch movements is to bring the heart to the knees. Keep your spine straight from hips to head, and bend only from the hips, maintaining that beautiful posture. Try to move the heart as close to the legs as possible without bending over or dropping the head - eventually, the head will get there, but let the heart lead the way (up and down). Our psychology effects our posture and our movements, and it also works in reverse. As we learn to move from the heart instead of from the head, we promote our ability to act from the heart instead of from the head. Love & blessings, Sadhant PS: I'm back!!! Solstice was utterly magical, Gururattan's class following a truly incredible White Tantric Yoga was exactly what I needed to know after that experience. I had the honor and pleasure of meeting several list members (pictures will be posted!). I'll post more as I get caught up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 24, 2001 Report Share Posted June 24, 2001 Ouch! Sadhant just caught me intellectualizing again : )! I will readily admit guilt, it is something I do only too often. The problem with the forward stretch however is that I have met very few people who are able to bring their head to their knees, and, uh, virtually none who can stretch further than that. Maybe it is just intellectual conditioning : ). Happy stretches, Satsang Kaur "Sadhant Singh" <kundaliniyoga > Dear friends: > > > Ideally you should try to hold your toes and bring your head down > >to touch the knees. Most people would not be able to do this, but > > This movement is an interesting mirror of our impulse to > intellectualize this work. One of our troubles is that we do > everything from our head, when what we really need to do is do > everything from the heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 24, 2001 Report Share Posted June 24, 2001 Hi Sadhant Thank you for your wonderfully simple yet profound explanation. It has cleared so much up for me. Great to hear from you and would love to hear more about Solstice Camp. I was there in spirit this year if not in body! :-) If you have some good photos, and this applies to anyone else who was there, please mail them to me (gordon) with some background notes and I'll add a new page to the Kundalini Yoga Web site. Sat Nam! Gordon - "Sadhant Singh" <kundaliniyoga > Dear friends: > > > Ideally you should try to hold your toes and bring your head down > >to touch the knees. Most people would not be able to do this, but > > This movement is an interesting mirror of our impulse to > intellectualize this work. One of our troubles is that we do > everything from our head, when what we really need to do is do > everything from the heart. > > The actual goal of these forward stretch movements is to bring the > heart to the knees. Keep your spine straight from hips to head, and > bend only from the hips, maintaining that beautiful posture. Try to > move the heart as close to the legs as possible without bending over > or dropping the head - eventually, the head will get there, but let > the heart lead the way (up and down). > > Our psychology effects our posture and our movements, and it also > works in reverse. As we learn to move from the heart instead of from > the head, we promote our ability to act from the heart instead of > from the head. > > Love & blessings, > Sadhant > > PS: I'm back!!! Solstice was utterly magical, Gururattan's class > following a truly incredible White Tantric Yoga was exactly what I > needed to know after that experience. I had the honor and pleasure > of meeting several list members (pictures will be posted!). I'll > post more as I get caught up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 24, 2001 Report Share Posted June 24, 2001 Dear friends: > Ouch! Sadhant just caught me intellectualizing again : )! I will >readily admit guilt, it is something I do only too often. I do it all the time too - but this practice really helps me. Being in an altered state of Solstice in the altered state of New Mexico for a week didn't hurt either. ;-) > The problem with the forward stretch however is that I have met >very few people who are able to bring their head to their knees, It is important to remember that it doesn't matter if you ever bring your heart (and head) to your knees (or hold lotus position for 62 minutes, or do 108 frogs, or whatever flexibility/strength aspect of yoga we are considering). Some are naturally more flexible, more strong, etc. Remember, as YB says, yoga is not really about flexibility, for if it were, circus acrobats would be the greatest yogis. All that matters is that we do our best each day with our bodies just the way they are, and truly it is best not to compare ourselves with anyone else. This is one of the (many) reasons that we practice with closed eyes, generally speaking, so we don't get caught up in "I'll never be able to stretch that far", or "I am so much stronger than that person", etc. It is the effort that we put into the practice that brings the benefits, and excellent posture accelerates those benefits. Love, peace, and light, Sadhant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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