mistake. This is the way to take judgment and to turn it into improve
ment. Do not look at others' bodies with envy or with superiority. All
people are born with different constitutions. Never compare with
others. Each one's capacities are a function of his or her internal
strength. Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.
Over time the intensity with which one can practice develops. Yoga
identifies four levels of intensity of practice, which relate to the twin
aspects of exertion and penetration. Exertion, or our effort through
practice, generates the energy, which we need for the journey to pene
trate to the core of our being. The first level of intensity is one we all
know in which we exert ourselves only a little, perhaps do one class a
week and find reasons not to practice at home. We all have to begin
yoga somewhere. Mild practice is not bad practice, and it is better to
sustain what we can do than to collapse and give up. Naturally this
mild investment does not pay big dividends, and in relation to pene
tration our awareness remains rudimentary and peripheral. We will
know, for example, that we can touch our ankles and not our toes.
If we increase our application and devote more time and effort, we
will be able to consider ourselves decent average practitioners, notal
ways consistent, but nevertheless the inner structure of our body and
organs will begin to reveal itself. We will feel fiber and sinew, liver
stretch (as in back bends), and heart's repose.
The next stage is determined and intense. Our inward gaze be
comes refined, insightful, judicious, and discerning. We will become
aware of our thoughts flickering and how the movement of breath ruf
fles or calms the consciousness. Our intelligence will awaken to the
point where it can see things in their true light and make a myriad of
meaningful choices both in life and practice.
The highest level is characterized as relentless, inexorable, a total
investment of oneself in practice. It is almost unknown for anyone to
be able to plunge into this level from the beginning. Probably the cir-
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