Intention of Week 6 - Pain: Find Comfort Even in Discomfort

Sankalpa - intention

Set an intention, and see what happens.

All ideas have been taken from B.K.S. Iyengar's book, "Light on Life", p.47-54

The idea of any type of pain is a difficult thing for most of us to think about.  People try very hard, in various ways to block pain out.  There are so many distractions out there that it is hard to stay in the present moment, but B.K.S. Iyengar writes that we can use pain as our guru, or teacher, to learn from so that later pains can be avoided.

"As we experience pleasures happily, we must also learn not to lose our happiness when pain comes." writes BKS Iyengar.  By learning to find comfort even during trying and uncomfortable times we will learn to move beyond our pain.  This is true not only on the yoga mat but off the mat as well.  Our yoga practice helps us become aware of how much pain the body can bear and how much affliction the mind can tolerate.

Mr. Iyengar teaches though that this should not be the "grin and bear it" kind of pain, which he espouses is just calisthenics and is the wrong attitude.  The goal is not to hold a posture at any cost or try to achieve a pose prematurely, but to do the asanas (postures) with as much possible intensity of intelligence and love.  To do this a student must learn awareness in their own body to know the difference between "right" pain and "wrong" pain.

Namaste,
Pamela Nelson

www.plnyoga.blogspot.com
plnyogastudio@gmail.com