08 Chapter Playing the Edge.doc

8/13/2019 08 Chapter Playing the Edge.doc

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e"pressed differently in your body. #he way to reali*e these changes is by focusing your

attention on the process of what you are doing. #his involves flirting with the tight spots,

your edges, with sensitivity and attention.

#he main thing to understand is that there is no such thing as a $completed% or

$ideal% posture. 'ach posture is an ever1evolving, constantly moving energy

phenomenon that is different from day to day, moment to moment, and person to person.If the process sensitively flirting with your edges and achieving perfect energy flow is

not merely the means to achieve the pose0it is the pose.

#his is what the physical aspect of yoga is fundamentally all about. !our body is

limited in movement not only through its genetic makeup, but through the conditionings

that have accrued over the years. As you age, this become more and more apparent.

!oga is a way of e"ploring these limits. Its not a matter of $(ow can I attain this or that

final posture2% Its a matter of gently pressing into the various edges you encounter

within the template structure of each particular posture. And your edges and limits will

change as a by1product of this e"ploration) you will change.

Intensity and Pain

!ou shouldneverbe in pain to as you practice yoga. !our practice should not be a

painful ordeal, but rather an e"pression of joy. &ain is most easily defined as a sensation

you do not like, and it always involves a natural withdrawal mechanism. /hen you put

your hand on a hot stove, for e"ample, instantly you take it off. efore youre being

aware that your hand is on the stove, its off. #his is a built1in self1protective device.

#he same withdrawal mechanism is activated whenever a yoga stretch begins to

hurt. 3uscles clamp down and contract in order to protect themselves from

overstretching. #hey are suddenly less willing, fearful, and they resist the stretch0

naturally. And they do this, to whatever small or large degree, before you are even awareits happening. #his is blatantly at odds with your initial intention to stretch, open, and

e"pand your physical boundaries. #herefore, by pushing into pain you are actually

working against yourself. /hat foot is on the accelerator, and one foot is on the brake.

&ushing and working hard are fre4uently appropriate and can be thoroughly

enjoyable at the right moments, but they should never result in pain. !ou may want to

approach pain and get near it, but not actually be in it. !ou want to be in the place where

it $hurts good,% where you know you are dealing with what needs to be dealt with0the

contracted parts of your energy field0but where its not so intense that you resist, tighten

up to protect yourself, or prevent yourself from going too far.

#he ideal state for practice is to be as willing and rela"ed as possible, as

nonresisting as possible, so that one part of you is not in opposition to another. !ou can

then comfortably press your edges open. #he practice becomes one of being rela"ed and

willing at your deeper edges) and this isnt necessarily easy. Its difficult to stay rela"ed

in the midst of a high1intensity stretch.

!ou want to stay within your comfort *one where you are safe and, at the same

time, press into the various tight areas. y pressing, stretching, and breathing into your

tight areas, you can ease them open, thereby e"panding the boundaries of your comfort

*one. Its like being inside a bubble and gently pressing outward from inside to e"pand

its shape, so that you e"perience more space and comfort within the bubble.

&ain lurks just beyond your deepest edges as a reminder that you have gone too

far. Its important for anyone who spends time nudging edges open with yoga to have a


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healthy understanding of pain0and to have a feeling for the distinction between pain and

intensity.

#he word pain actually stands for a variety of different possible sensations raging

anywhere from sharp and intense to subtle and dull. &hysical pain may arise from a

variety of causes) a pulled muscle, for e"ample, or from a stretch thats too intense.

&sychological pain often involves the feeling that you are in a place you dont like, doingsomething you would rather not be doing.

(erein lies one of the reasons for the fre4uent confusion between intensity and

pain. A powerful stretch, whether or not you have gone too far, will generate an intense

sensation. Someone who is not used to intensity or is e"cessively worried about getting

hurt may be afraid of the intense sensation and resist it. Resisted intensity becomes pain.

#herefore, even relatively mild levels of intensity can be e"perienced as pain if you go

beyond your psychological edge.

If fear prevents you from going deeper or staying longer in a posture, it is wise to

avoid overriding the fear by being brave or courageous, since this makes injury more

likely. Instead of pushing past psychological limits, open more slowly by finding a less

intense level of stretch just before fear enters. (old the position there as you deepen thebreath, rela", and acclimati*e to the stretch. y playing the edge of fear like this, you

never have to e"perience psychological discomfort.

#his can have a very profound influence on all aspects of your life. +ne of the

things you learn in yoga is to enjoy working with intensity. Intensity is simply more

$energy% at any given moment, more feeling. (appiness and sadness, for e"ample, can

both the e"perienced with more or less intensity. If you are unable or unwilling to deal

with an increase in intensity, however, not only in your yoga but in your daily life as

well, your range of life e"perienced will necessarily remain limited and narrow. !oga

can teach you to enjoy an learn from a broader range of e"perience. It will encourage

you to seek out and process more intensity. #he more you do this within the safe area of

yoga practice, the more it will influence all of your life. #his is not as intense as it may

sound. 3ore intensity isnt even noticeable as you become open and strong.

#his has two distinct advantages. 5irst, youll will be able to allow more pleasure

into your life. 3ore good will come to you because you are open and receptive, no

longer pushing it away. !ou will e"perience more joy and find yourself able to handle

the heightened intensity of happiness. (avent you noticed that even in the midst of joy,

something you thought you wanted, there is often a part of you that wants to turn it off2

+r at least turn it down a bit2 Its difficult to handle intensity of any kind, even if you

like it. !oga can change this for you forever. As you are able to generate more energy

and process more intensity in the poses with enjoyment and full willingness, you will

correspondingly be able to receive and process more goodness in your life.Secondly, yoga teaches you to e"perience the so1called $negative% emotions and

intensities without being overly disturbed by them, the having to run away from then.

#hey will feel less intensive than they previously would have. !ou will then be able to

learn from the $bad% and painful e"periences in life without being bowled over by them.

And therefore, because your full range of life e"perience is being broadened and enlarged

in all directions, you are now able to learn from both the $good% and $bad,% making your

life that much richer.

It is important to learn how to generate voluntary intensity deliberately and

willingly, by deepening the breath, increasing the current, strengthening your lines, and

flirting with the various edges that arise in each pose. #his is best learned in postures that

are easy for you. In these postures any intensity you e"perience is largely self1generated.6earn to create voluntary intensity in these easy poses and an the early stages of any pose


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you do, and then delicately press into your tight areas in order to nudge them gently to

greater openness. #his will prepare you for the intensely pleasurable sensations that

come with the territory of advanced yoga. Intensity is pleasurable when you are prepared

for it, when you are able to let go into it) it becomes unpleasant when you resist it or

generate too much. Skill in yoga involves creating the perfect amount of intensity0not

too much, not too little.

Minimum and Maximum Edges

'very pose has a $minimum edge% and a $ma"imum edge,% as well as a series of

intermediary edges between these. 3ost of us are aware of the ma"imum edge, it is the

easiest to detect. #his is the point where the stretch begins to hurt. It is the furthest point

of tightness beyond which you should not go. If you were to force yourself beyond this

point, you would definitely be in pain and might easily hurt yourself or pull a muscle.

#he minimum edge is where you sense the very first sensation of stretch, the very

first hint of resistance coming from your muscles. 5or e"ample, bending over andtouching your toes may ta" you to the ma"imum, but about halfway down 7or less8 you

can sense the first edge. #his is where you initially become aware of a stretch.

It is important to be aware of your very first edge, your minimum edge. #aking

your time to open that edge is like preparing to go through a series of gates. !ou must go

through the first gate before you can go through the second, and the second before the

third. #he real key to depth in postures is going slowly, making sure you have

thoroughly opened your early edges.

As you come into a pose, look for your very first edge. 9o not rush past it. /hen

you feel that edge, stop. Stop moving, deepen the breath, clarify your energy lines, and

wait for it to open. !ou will know the first edge has opened when the sensations of

stretch begin to diminish. At that point you will naturally want to go deeper into theposture. -ather than having to push your way in, you will feel drawn into the pose. As

you are drawn deeper, a new edge will soon appear, and the sensations of stretch will

come back. /ait for the sensations at this new edge to diminish before going deeper.

9o this over and over. /ait for the sensations of stretch to diminish somewhat

and then go deeper. It will feel as though you are sneaking into the pose, not barging

your way in. &roceed slowly, edge by edge and gate by gate. Apply pressure and wait

for the musculature to open. #hen you can move deeper into the pose, apply more

pressure, all the while orchestrating the tone of the pose with the breath and current, and

waiting for the musculature to open and the sensations of stretch to diminish. :ontinue

working like this until the musculature will no longer release. #hen stay where you are

and be motionless. -etain the sense of energy and stretch, and release every hint of

strain. e as rela"ed as you can be) do and dont1do. /hen you sense that it is nearly

time to come out of the pose, delicately accelerate your energy for a moment. 5inally,

release the stretch altogether and come out of the pose.

/hile you are at each new subse4uent edge, deepen the breath, define and clarify

your lines, and pay close attention to the actual feelings of the stretch. ;eep tabs on

whether you are enjoying yourself or not. If not, why not2 5ind a way of doing the pose

that is enjoyable. And then be interested Are the sensations increasing2 If so, its a sign

that you are too deep in the posture and should back off a bit. Are the sensations staying

the same2 If so, stay where you are, deepen the breath, and wait for the sensations of

stretch to diminish. And when the sensations of stretch have diminished somewhat andyou are able to rela" with intensity, you will instinctively know it is time to go deeper.


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&roceed step by step, edge by edge, paying close attention to what you are doing,

being sensitive to be changing sensations of stretch. -emember, yoga is essentially an

awareness process wherein you attend to these subtle shifts in sensation and feeling. #he

attention you give to these changing sensations of stretch is what e"ercises and develops

your sensitivity. !ou will become sensitive to subtler and subtler sensations.

/hen the sensations of intensity no longer diminish at the new edge, it meansyour muscles are not yet ready for a stronger or deeper stretch. !ou can flirt with these

tight areas by pressing into them gently, by changing the strength and character of your

breathing, by increasing and decrease the current in your lines, by staying in the posture

longer, or by doing several repetitions of the pose0but do not force your way through

them. -espect your tight edges. 6ure them to greater openness.

#he more you do this, the better youll get at it. Instead of telling your body when

to move or what to do, youre learning to wait until its ready. !ou wait off the inner

feeling to tell you when to move. !ou listen for the inner cue to action, and this becomes

easier and easier to detect. /hen you feel the energy flowing freely and the sensations of

intensity beginning to wane, thats the sign. If you go too fast, however, the sensations

will increase instead of diminish. #here will be pain0a roadblock to the free flow ofenergy. #his is feedback that you have gone too deep, too fast, too soon. e interested in

the feedback youre receiving from your body while you are in the pose.

6ets take an imaginary pose and rate it from one to ten. $+ne% is the beginning

of the pose. $#en% is as far as you can go before reaching pain. #here is no pain in the

one1to1ten range, though the sensations of stretch will become increasingly intense has

you approach ten. Anything beyond ten we will not consider.

As you proceed from one to ten, the intensity will gradually increase. At one you

will not feel much, but somewhere around two or three you will feel your first edge.

3ost of the time we rush past these early edges, looking for the real stretch deeper in the

pose. Its important, however, to find your first edge and acclimati*e yourself there

before deepening. It is the opening of this early edge that allows the later, deeper

openings to occur. If youre early edges are not fully open, your body will not be ready

for the intensity of the deeper e"tensions. Somewhere around eight or nine and inching

into ten is what I would call your ma"imum edge, the deepest e"tension or degree of

intensity you are now capable of sustaining without pain or discomfort. -emember,

never push yourself into pain.

It your limits in a posture are marked by pain, and if the intensity of the stretch

continues to increase as you come closer and closer to your ma"imum edge, how do you

tell the difference between pain and intensity2 'asy< #he answer is obvious. If you do

not like the sensation and you do not want to be there, its pain. Its totally up to you.

#his is your yoga. !ou are not here to punish yourself or do something you dont want todo. !ou are learning to generate an intensity that is attractive, pleasurable, that you like

and want. Its something you are actually looking for. At your ma"imum edge, just

before pain0but not in pain0is and intensity that is e"tremely pleasurable. #herefore,

go slowly. #ake your time. 9ont mess that perfect point. Increase the intensity of the

pose gradually and deepen the pose with care. #his will teach you to enjoy and

assimilate greater amounts of energy and intensity.

#he feeling1toned of a perfectly orchestrated strong stretch at a deep edge has a

seductive 4uality to it. Its intense, pleasurable, e"hilarating, and invigorating. !our

body will like it. #his should not be surprising, however, because by stretching your

body to full openness, you are praying yourself from the constraints of tightness,

contraction, and pain. !ou are increasing your internal energy flow, flushing new lifethrough your system, opening and nourishing yourself at very deep levels) and all of this


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is good for you and therefore feels good. ut if you unawarely press too deeply, too

4uickly, into a posture, then the pleasurable and attractive sensations of intensity will

become painful and unattractive. If you happen to go too far into a stretch0$too far%

meaning you do not light it0than ease out of the pose until you do. :enter yourself in

your breathing, regain composure, and then slowly go in again, being more careful this

time.e clear about this if you start not liking the stretch for any reason, then move

out of the pose until you find a place you do like. -easons for not liking where you are

can be physical or psychological. !ou may be stretching the muscle too much, or you

may not be in the mood. 'ither reason is valid. ever be in a place you dont want to be.

If you do not like it, change it. Adjust. 5ind the degree of stretch you can totally

immerse yourself in.

Sometimes you will want to flirt for seriously with your various resistances and

with the common reluctance to stay with an intense, and perhaps uncomfortable,

sensation for an e"tended period of time. ut doing this when you want to do this is

different from doing it when you do not want to. If you avoid feedback and spend a lot

of time being uncomfortable or in pain, you are not going to enjoy doing yoga. !ou willnot look forward to your practice. !ou will not be working with the principles of

opening. And by encountering unnecessary tension and resistance, you go not be doing

your body any good, either.

Edges, Breathing, and Wholeness

Since your movements and stretches will be coordinated with your breathing 7$3ove

when you breathe, and breathe when you move%8 the most subtle and sensitive way to

play your edges and fine1tune the feel of your stretches is with your breathing. /ithout

the sensitive use of your breathing, your stretches cannot be precise. #he muscles andlines are not sensitive enough in themselves, nor sufficiently delicate, to fine1tune they

stretch accurately.

#he overall feeling in your muscles and body is thesoundof yoga. #he sound is

a feeling, a tone, a feeling1tone) its very much like singing a note. And if $ sharp.%

:ontinual readjustment is necessary to stay perfectly tuned. I usually create a line of

energy that is slightly flat, just below perfect tension and with low current. I then deepen

the breath as I increase the current to fine1tune the line. #his enables me to press

delicately into an edge from the insight out without invoking the stretch1refle"

withdrawal mechanism) and if I happen to go too far, I soften my breathing, that all the

edge somewhat, decrease the current in my lines, then try again. In this way it is possible

to create a strong current of energy in any given line, or flirt with a ma"imum edge, orperform a difficult and advanced posture without forcibly pushing beyond physical and

psychological edges. #he moment you do that, remember, your intention will fragment,

and your attention will wander. !ou will begin to resist what you are doing, part of you

wanting to continue and part of you wanting to stop.

#he hallmark of practicing yoga probably, however, is wholeness, whole1

heartedness, not being in conflict. #he idea is too generate wholeheartedly the optimum

intensity of energy by consciously creating and increase or decrease in current. !ou then

use this energy to e"tend your boundaries and limits, to e"pand your comfort *one,

basically0both physically and psychologically speaking. !oga is not about $ pushing

through the pain,% $ overcoming the pain,% $ no pain, no gain,% or about being

e"cessively willful. It you are having to be brave and courageous in order stoically towithstand e"cessive intensity, you are pushing too hard. !ou are forcing the issue,


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fighting. Never fight yourself. !oga is not about fighting. #here is no advantage to this

and there are many disadvantages. 'ase up when necessary. Intensify when appropriate.

&ractice skillfully.

#he optimum degree of intensity is the amount that elicits your ability attention)

sometimes this will be a lot, and sometimes this will be a little. #he correct amount is the

amount that helps you be one1pointed and whole. It is the amount that feels perfect toyou now. #oo much is a strain, and too little is not sufficiently interesting. !our mind

will wander in either case. Getting $better% at yoga means getting better at generating the

perfect degree of current, intensity, breath, and feeling so that, in that moment, you are

consciously one with what youre doing0whole, not conflicted, and e"actly where you

want to be.

#herefore, learn to be more interested in the feeling1tone of your body than in

how deep you are in the posture. 6earn to create and energy flow that is attractive to you.

9o this by pressing into your edges with the perfect degree of current and the perfect

pitch of breath. -eali*e this is not a function of how fle"ible you are. A stiff body can

do this just as beautifully as a fle"ible one. #he beautiful inner music0the inner feeling

0is the yoga, not the achievement of elaborate postures. And be assured, your body willgrow more beautiful and become strong and fle"ible by being played beautifully.

#his is where the concept of push and yield most meaningfully displays itself.

#he art of yoga lies in how well you play your edges, how delicately you flirt with your

limitations, how well you lure yourself deeper into the postures, how sensitively you

balance the desire to achieve results with the rela"ing of non1desire and surrender, and

how thoroughly you immerse yourself in the process and enjoy what you are doing. And

again, the primary tool you use is your breathing. !our breathing orchestras the feeling1

tone of the poses as it brings them to life.

;eep in mind that the various poses are like maps into your body. (aving a map,

however, does not infer a specific goal or a predetermined destination of where you

should be in the pose. #he idea is too use the map to e"plore0to look deliberately for

tight, blocked areas within yourself0open them, and thereby create lines of clean energy

flow. #his re4uires that you be delicate, deliberate, and e"actly, not in the sense of

$blueprint,% but in the sense of being increasingly inwardly sensitive for the specific

alignment and intensity of stretch that feels most right. #his entails pressing for greater

depth in the poses, greater openness, yet also remaining passive and yielding. !ou knock

on the door, breathe, wait, then go deeper when the musculature lets you in.

=se your breathing and energy lines to nudge into your edges, being watchful and

patient. 9o not barge in, but also dont just remain passive. Apply pressure in specific

areas, increase the intensity gradually, breathe, and wait for them to release. 6ovingly

persuade the tight areas to open, breath by breath by breath. :ommunicate nonverballyto the various tight areas that it is in their best interest to rela" and open. !ou this by

finding easy places in the poses where you can establish an energy flow, then bring this

flow into the contracted area.

Again, never push yourself into positions that cause you to resist the stretch

physically or emotionally. Always start from comfort and safety, and only increase the

stretch after youre comfortable where you already are. #hen feel free to go after your

deeper e"tensions and stronger stretches. =se as much ambition and desire as you want.

&ush as much as you want. 6et go as much as you can. ut learn to do all of this with

sensitivity. 9eepen the breath and increase the force in your lines at relatively easy

stages, then wait and be patient. !our body will open and let you in when its ready. y

staying at easy stages of the pose longer, you will increase your strength and endurance.


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!ou will need these in order to hold the increased fle"ibility that will accrue through time

and practice.

Skill in yoga is a matter of harmoni*ing your breathing with your energy lines as you flirt

with your edges. Its a matter of getting all three just right, of changing them when necessary,

and of adjusting and readjusting in order to create the feeling1tone that is the most attractive to

you in that moment. Its a matter of adjusting the tension and stretch of your muscles, and thepitch of your breathing, too produce the perfect feeling1tone. !ou can make it e"4uisite. #he

more perfect it is, the more one1pointed and focused your mind will be.

08 Chapter Playing the Edge.doc

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Transcript of 08 Chapter Playing the Edge.doc