tolerance in body and mind so that we can bear the stress and strain
more easily. In other words, the effort and its unavoidable pains are an
essential part of what the asanas can teach us. Back bends, for ex
ample, allow us to see the courage and tenacity of people, to see
whether they can bear the pain. Balancing asanas on the arms teach
and cultivate tolerance. If you can adapt to and balance in a world that
is always moving and unstable, you learn how to become tolerant to
the permanence of change and difference.
Endurance is needed to remain in an asana. To master an asana,
you need patience and discipline. The asana will not come by making
faces. So how does one learn to make pain bearable? We have already
seen how one must create repose in the pose; one must create relax
ation even as there is the right amount of tension. This relaxation can
start by releasing the stress residing in the temples and in the cells of
the brain. This de-stresses the load of the brain, by releasing the eyes
and the temples. This in turn takes the stress load off the nerves and
muscle fiber. That is how you can convert an unbearable pain into a
bearable one, which allows you the time and space in which to even
tually master the asana and eradicate the pain all together.
To get freedom, you have to bear the pain. This is equally true in
life. My student said that while sitting for pranayama, she got pins and
needles in her feet, and all her concentration was on her feet. I told her
that what she had done was also good practice. Because it was not
serene, she thought she had done it badly. But practice is not just about
pleasurable sensations. It is about awareness, and awareness leads us
to notice and understand both the pleasure and the pain.
In the beginning, pain can be very strong because the body resists
us. By surrendering to it, we soften the body, and gradually it will
lessen. But if once we are more proficient and pain returns acutely at a
time when it should not be there, it is prudent to leave the asana for a
while and reflect on what is going wrong. Pain comes only when the
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