Namaste!
Do you know what is Body consciousness? If your answer is no just listen to these wordings and understand what is body consciousness.
The physical position maintained in the form of the Asana is coupled with the activity of the senses. We must know a little bit of what we are inside, apart from the mere fact that we appear to be bodies. We are bodies as we appear to be on the surface, but the body itself is a very complicated structure. It is made up of little bits of many things, like a building which has layers of bricks placed one over the other, and many other things besides, like plastering and girders. Likewise, the body is not one whole, indivisible being. It is a complex structure of bits of matter and forces which pump in energy to move it in a particular direction for a specified purpose. The sense organs, such as the eyes and the ears, are inseparable from the body. We see with the eyes, we hear with the ears, we smell with the nose and so on. In fact, the body seems to be a kind of vehicle employed or utilised by the senses for their activities. The senses cannot work except through the body. Now, the whole of what we call the body may be said to be a bundle of sensations. What is the body but sensations? The idea of the body, the notion that one is the body, is nothing but a bundle of sensations grouped together into a heap in a concentrated form which goes by the name of the body. The sensations of colour, of sound, of smell, of taste and of touch, blending together in a concentrated focussing fashion, become body consciousness.
So, body consciousness is a very difficult thing again to understand. We sometimes may doubt whether we have a body at all except a heap of sensations. Minus these sensations, there cannot be a body. There are thinkers who believe that there is no solidity of the body, that it is only an illusion presented before us in a powerful manner that we are deluded into the belief that the body is a solid substance which we touch and feel, while it is only a bundle of electric energy. This is a very hard thing for us to understand and to accept, because we live in a very gross, prosaic world, where we have been brainwashed by the mind into the belief that the body is a hard substance, though theorists in physics, science and philosophy tell us that the so-called hardness is nothing but a sensation of touch. So, Yoga takes us further inwardly into a subtler realm of practice and concentration, whereby we accommodate ourselves to the doctrine of our being bundles of sensations, rather than heaps of physical matter or even chemical substances. We are not astronomical pieces of matter; we are not bundles of chemical compounds. We are forces inside which jet themselves outward with vehemence unspeakable, and this velocity of the forces is what makes us unconscious of our relationship to the internal layers of our system. The force with which the energy within us moves outward in the direction of space and time is so uncontrollable and impetuous that we are made unconscious of the connectedness of our personality to the higher layers of our being. We are like people caught in the current of a flooded river, or a river that has burst the bounds and is rushing forth with a tremendous speed, like the Ganga in spate. It damages everything, breaks villages, brings down houses and destroys people. It can go anywhere and do anything because of the speed with which it moves. The speed with which the energies of our system move outwardly in terms of objects in space and in time is such that we are unconscious of what is happening. We are given a blow on our head by the velocity of the forces with such intensity that we become unconscious of what we are, and of our relationship to the higher levels of our being, and we are helplessly driven in any direction in which the energies move. So, Yoga tells us that there is a necessity to restrain the force of these sensations, the powers of the senses which project themselves outwardly and drag the body in any, direction they like. This practice which follows the seatedness of our body in a posture, an Asana, is known as Pranayama and Pratyahara. To some extent, Pranayama and Pratyahara go together. The bringing of the energies back to their source is the purpose of Pranayama and Pratyahara so-called. Just as we have varieties of Asana in the Hatha Yoga system, we have varieties of Pranayama also. Hatha Yoga concerns itself principally with the practice of Asanas and Pranayama, and secondarily with meditation.
Thanks and regards…
kalai@yogasanalive.com