Your brain may say, "We can do it." But the knee may say, "Who
are you to dictate 1:0 me? It is for me to say whether I can do it or not."
So you have to listen to what the body says. Sometimes the body coop
erates with you, and sometimes it thinks things over. If necessary, use
your intelligence to reflect. Solutions will present themselves even
though this is initially through trial and error. Then you will have true
understanding between the body and the mind, but this requires the hu
mility of the brain and also understanding in the body. The brain does
not know everything. If the brain receives knowledge from the body, it
will be able to increase the intelligence of the body later. In this way, the
body and the brain begin working together to master the asana.
This is the process of interweaving and interpenetration, when the
sheaths or layers of being work in harmony with one another. By in
terweaving, I mean that all the threads and fibers of our being at every
level are drawn into contact and communication with each other. This
is how the body and the mind learn to work together. The skin pro
vides our outermost layer of intelligence. At our core lies our innermost
wisdom. So the knowledge from outer perception and inner wisdom
should always be in contact in your postures. At that time there is no
duality; you are one; you are complete. You exist without the feeling
of existence. The challenge from the skin should tap the Self, our Soul,
and the Self has to ask, "What more have I to do?" The external
knowledge incites the Self to act.
As I have said, while doing yoga, the body must tell one what to
do, not the brain. Brain has to cooperate with the message it receives
from the body. I will often say to a student, "Your brain is not in your
body! That is why you can't get the asana." I mean of course that his
intelligence is in his head and not filling his body. It may be that your
brain moves faster than your body or your body may fail to fulfill the
instructions of your brain owing to lack of right guidance from your
intelligence. You must learn to move the brain a bit more slowly so that
it follows the body, or you have to make the body move faster to match
II K � I\' I· N 1; 1\ It
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