Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates

Author:Rolf Gates [Gates, Rolf]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-77394-4
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2010-10-27T04:00:00+00:00

While performing asana, the student’s body assumes numerous forms of life found in creation, and he learns that in all these there breathes the same universal spirit—the spirit of God.

B. K. S. Iyengar

As a graduate student I spent a fair amount of time discussing the subconscious. As far as I can tell, though, no one has actually found one. There are none in captivity, and no plans that I know of to catch one. My own understanding of it is incomplete. I say this because whether we understand the concept of the subconscious or not, anyone who has practiced yoga will agree that as the mind quiets, insight develops. The quieting of the mind gains us access to a parallel intelligence. And for want of a better term, we call this intelligence the subconscious. To gain access to this parallel intelligence, we need only apply ourselves to our practice. Control of the breath and the limbs will eventually quiet the mind. In the absence of distraction, we connect to ourselves as an integrated whole.

One aspect of that whole is the infinite creativity of the subconscious. There is a parallel creative process at work in the body. As Mr. Iyengar so eloquently puts it, our bodies contain within them the entire experience of evolution. Our DNA attests to this fact. The mind must become still for the subconscious to come to the fore. The body, however, must simply become at peace to access the wisdom of its cells. The body can be at peace in movement or stillness. If we are practicing with a mind that has let go and a heart that is open, efficiency, and then grace, overtakes our movements. When we are no longer attached to the outcome of our efforts, the intelligence of the mind no longer overrules the wisdom of the body. Then, whether we are moving or still, we have accessed the power of creation. In some moments our bodies spiral into postures like a vine twisting up a trellis. In others, our bodies undulate through movements like a fish swimming through the ocean.

To clear space for such creative expression to occur, however, we must approach our mats with the same intentionality that we would bring to a meditation cushion. We must see that our movements, like the quieting of the mind, have the potential to access an intelligence that has not been available to us. Connection to this intelligence, the wisdom of evolution, will gradually deepen as we cultivate it day after day in our practice. How we move, how we eat, sleep, make love, live, and die will become consciously informed by the divinity of the innumerable beings who have gone before us.

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