Yoga F-ing Sucks #2 — Listening
There is a deep meaning behind sitting cross-legged, it’s our “listening” pose.
Since I was a child, I was afraid of “uncomfortable” body movements, it started with basic gymnastics in gym class. Unfortunately, I shielded myself from the discomfort and sabotaged my health over decades.
When you remove yourself from comfort, your limitations are immediately apparent. I avoided learning about my limitations because I was afraid to look stupid or fail. Recently, I mustered up the courage and started to attend yoga classes and sitting cross-legged was the first painful problem.
Consequently, I’m praciticing using yoga blocks at home to support my cross-legged seating. It’s more comfortable and helps me develop better posture and strength. As I sit, slowly counting the agonizing minutes, it occurred to me why it’s important to sit cross-legged.
There is a revered meaning behind sitting cross-legged, it’s our “listening” pose. In Ancient India, students (adults too) would sit cross-legged with a teacher under a tree. It’s also common practice to see Swamis and Buddhist monks meditate cross-legged, almost as if they are peering and listening into the universe like Doctor Strange in Avengers Infinity War.
It’s as if sitting cross-legged is the human antenna. At first, the antenna can only pick up disturbances and noise in your body, which need to be calibrated before you “tune” into the universe.
Right now my “antenna” sucks. It’s clear what I have to work on right now: core strength, breathing, and endurance. There is immense tension in my sacral areas and solar plexus. If you subscribe to the “chakra theory”, I have blockages in my creativity and confidence (sacral and solar plexus respectively).
So, I started drafting a plan to focus on core strength and breathing, but if the mind-body connection holds true, I also need to tap into creativity to evoke a sense of confidence. I don’t know what this looks like but we’ll see how my “charkas” will help manifest my goals.
Fortunately, to my surprise, Swami Vivekananda had a similar belief when he was describing seated position in Asana Yoga.
“The seat must be firm, the head, ribs, and body in a straight line, erect. Say to yourself that you are firmly seated, and that nothing can move you. Then mention the perfection of the body, bit by bit, from head to foot. Think of it as being clear as crystal, and as a perfect vessel to sail over the sea of life.”
I promise I came up with my antenna analogy before I discovered the above excerpt. Regardless, maybe it’s the necessary finding to know I am on the right path or as the Hindus call it, dharma.
Word count: 431 (quote added 63 words)
Total time spent writing/editing: approx. 2 hours
Total time sitting cross legged on yoga blocks while writing/editing this post: 16 mins
Twitter: @bhavprajapati
