Why have I made so few yoga posts? Since yoga figures large in my life I expected that I would have made more posts on the subject than I have. But when it comes to write words fail me. The practice of yoga is experiential and words are inadequate to convey the experience.
In his writings Krishnamurti often says that the word is not the thing. You cannot know what a strawberry tastes like from a description of the taste - you have to eat one! Words are useful for communication but the communication is only pure when we and the other person have the same understanding of the words used. And this is very rare - just think about the mess we get into with words like love and God.
Language/words/instructions are all linear but the body is a supreme multitasker! It doesn't work linearly. To bend the arm the brain doesn't send a list of instructions as to what muscles should contract and relax etc. It just says bend the arm and the body contracts and relaxes the appropriate muscles simultaneously. There is a danger that in thinking too anatomically we forget this. Following a series of anatomical instructions to perform a yoga asana may satisfy our linear way of thinking but it doesn't speak the body's language and so the resulting movement is fragmented.
Likewise when the body reveals it's wisdom to us it doesn't do so linearly which is why it is so difficult to use words to explain.
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