body does not understand how to do the asana, which is the case in the
beginning. In the correct posture, pain does not come. To learn the
right posture, you have to face the pain. There is no other way.
Your intelligence should have an intimacy with your body. It
should be in close contact and know it well. When there is no intimacy
between your mind and your body, there is duality, there is separation,
and there is no integration. When you experience pain, you come in
close contact with the part that is painful, so that you can adjust it and
lessen the pain and feel the lightness. Pain is a great philosopher, be
cause it thinks constantly of how to get rid of itself and demands dis
cipline. The other side of the equation of pain is the understanding of
how pain brings focus of attention on the affected area. If we release
the tension of the brain, that attention shows the way to lessen and
later eradicate the source of pain. In this way, pain can be a great
teacher, which educates us how to live with it and eventually say
goodbye.
It is not just that yoga is causing all of this pain; the pain is already
there. It is hidden. We just live with it or have learned not to be aware
of it. It is as if your body is in a coma. When you begin yoga, the un
recognized pains come to the surface. When we are able to use our in
telligence to purify our bodies, then the hidden pains are dispersed. As
long as there is tightness in body and mind, there is no peace. Internal
mistakes such as forcing, acting without observing, tightening the
throat, and blocking the ears create habits, and these habits create lack
of awareness, constriction, heaviness, tightness, imbalance, and pain.
For example, when muscles that have atrophied return to life, there are
the pangs of rebirth. There are only two ways to confront pain: to live
with the pain forever or to work with the pain and see if you can erad
icate it.
While we must recognize the existence and importance of pain, we
must not glorify it. Where pain exists, there must be a reason for it.
S T A Il l I. I T Y T II 1·: I' II Y S I I' i\ I. II 0 I I Y I .1 .\ .1 N .1 )