12. Practising and Learning

What is the difference between "practising" and "learning?"

You see, usually, when we practice, we continue to learn. We don't "practice." That means we want to do more and more, qualitatively and quantitatively. Our concept of practice is not proper. Because even while we are practising, we are trying to learn whether we can do more, both qualitatively and quantitatively. If I have done two minutes of Janu Sirsasana all these days, can I do it for three minutes? I practice Sirsasana for ten minutes, can I do it for fifteen minutes? And that's how we do our so-called practices. This means that even in our practices we are trying to do more and more to go beyond, degree wise, in our pose: more of Janu Sirsasana, more of forward-bends, more of back-arch, increase the arch, increase the stretches, increase the rotation. We try to intensify our poses while we are doing so-called practice.

The question is, "What is practice?" Practice is something which you do, which you have learnt; you are not supposed to learn while you are practising. When you ask your children to learn something, you say "you learn this, this is taught to you; a lesson is taught to you, now you have to learn." What do you expect? The child should know it by heart, the lesson, the poem or whatever it is. Similarly, when we practice, we are supposed to practice what we know and not explore and try to discover more than what we know. That is, in reality, the meaning of practice.

Practice is something which you do pertaining to something that you know; you don't practice something that you don't know. If you are not taught a particular asana, say for example Viparita Shalabhasana, you can't practice it. You practice what you are taught. So the practice concept should be understood. Sometimes you must practice in such a way that you don't do more. But you learn just as a child learns a lesson by heart. That is what you have to do.

One aspect of practice is that you should not learn while you are practising. Therefore, you must try to do that pose, whatever is taught to you, in such a way that you will try to lessen the effort, the extravagance of effort, the extra use of motor force. Suppose the teacher teaches you Trikonasana. Now, what was the amount of effort that was invested? What was the input? How much did you exert? What was your physical effort? What was you mental effort? What was your volition effort? In the classes we say, "turn more," "stretch more" and you go on doing it.

That is the way you learn. When you practice, you should know the following: "what was the input required yesterday? Can I be doing the same degree of pose with less effort? Can I do it more skilfully in such a way that I will not need to exert so much? If I profusely perspired yesterday with Trikonasana, can I do with less perspiration today, with no perspiration tomorrow and with total relaxation the day after tomorrow?" That is maturity in the pose. You have to get maturity in the pose.

Patanjali says, "Prayatna saithilya ananta samapattibhyam." [ 1 ] - "The effect of asana should be such that there is a cessation of effort." Now, when you practice, you don't bring in this aspect. No question of any cessation; there is always input of action, you're trying to do more and more and more and more - until you perspire, until you get exhausted, until you are tired out. That is how you do it. And therefore, that is not practice.

In practice the main thing is the following: "Can I do with lesser effort, proper coordination, proper integration?" When you have proper coordination, proper integration, naturally, the effort is less. If you attain maturity, the effort required is less. If you are immature you don't apply correct management of labour. There is no effort management if you are immature in practice. Practice should be such that you should build up you maturity in such a way that the same pose can be done with less effort, less and less effort... and ultimately no effort.

Every degree of your pose should be mature. Don't think that it should mature when you have reached the highest point of pose, which I many times state as "B.K.S. point" in the pose. You can't visualize a better pose than that; these are the poses which are in the walls in the Institute, or in Light in Yoga, for example, Kapotasana. Guruji's Kapotasana is the aim, is the goal for you. But you should not wait to mature until you reach that level because you may never reach it. And why not? I'm not a pessimist in saying that you will not. That is the reality.

At every degree of the pose, you must consolidate, you must mature. Don't wait to mature until you have reached the highest point in your pose. Every stage should be matured. The other day I said in the class: when you take a morsel, when it is still in the mouth, you don't take a second one. The first one has to go down the throat, then you take another one; you don't gulp the first one. When you are crazy, when you are in a hurry, when somebody might come, somebody might see you, then you try to eat like birds that just swallow and swallow, and eat later. But that's not the way. As long as there is a morsel in the mouth, you are not supposed to take the second morsel. It must be chewed, it must be bitten, it must go down the throat, before you may take the second morsel.

Similarly in your poses: every time you do, you are taking a morsel of the pose when you learn. Let that be assimilated, let that be digested, let it go into the system, let it go into the blood and then, improve your Trikonasana. We never bother to consolidate at that stage. We want to go further and further and further. That is how our practice is not really a practice.

But then there is another aspect in practice, where you are supposed to learn, where you should try to go beyond, try to do more and more - because that will improve your standard. Every time you should just try to mature in a state and not go further. You don't graduate. You don't go further.

So, there should be a division of your practice: One part of practice is for consolidation, digestion of the pose and taking it into the blood and cells. The second aspect of practice is that you must work hard; you must struggle and try to go to the next degree of the pose.

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