Coming out of my shell s.l.o.w.l.y.: Kurmasana Video

I am delighted to read the accounts of very long term practitioners and their experiences with Pattabhi Jois through “Guruji: A Portrait of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois through the eyes of his students” which I am reading right now.   Today I realized how a specific story had touched me deeply. The interviewee is Nancy Gilgoff, and she is talking about a pose that was very difficult for her in the beginning (baddha konasana (a deep forward bend while you are sitting on the floor with both legs folded and soles of the feet touching)).  About the experience, she says:

” He [Jois] would take me down through the entire pose and my knees would go down on to the floor… and my mind would snap. The body was fine but my mind definitelly snapped… I saw it was my mind holding me down“

Can you relate?  I certainly can.  And for me, the monster has always been kurmasana.  The first time I was deeply adjusted in it I had an adrenaline rush go through my body so intensively that I almost fainted.  I had to come out and lay on the floor, for a while.  I guess that is the equivalent of my own “mind snapping“

This is why I am so glad to see how daily practice indeed brings one deeper, seeing this video has made me really happy, I can see how the work pays off, in the long run.  Very.  Loooooong.  Run

The pose has a long way to go, but at least the mind can stay quiet while in it, no more snapping.  I wonder in what other situations in life I might be able to remain calm if I can do this?