Dear Maria,

Thanks for Task 9. Here are my reflections. Below them you can find my Task 10.

Reflections on Task 9 – Do as you normally do

After the first day of practicing I sat down to document the order of Asanas to make sure I’d remember the sequence for the following day. I looked over it swiftly before my practice on Day 2 and after practicing on Day 3 I started to add some thoughts.

When I described the task to my partner Alan, who also practices yoga, he suggested that I could record my sensory experience as I do the practice: what I see, smell and hear, as an alternative to the more subjective somatic approach of interpreting what’s going on in the body. I decided to give this a go and copied and pasted the order of postures in Sanskrit and added the moments of perception next to the Asana as they stood out for me as I practiced:

Day 1

Green mat, ‘What are we doing?’ Alan asks.

3 x Surya Namaskara A synchronised breath.

2 x Surya Namaskara B

Padanghustasana unsynchronised breath.

Trikonasana

Parvritta Trikonasana

Parsvakonasana

Parvritta Parsvakonasana

Padottanasana shuffle back, giggles.

Sirsasana

My foot slips off my leggings Vrkasana

Surya Namaskara A

Ardha Kapotasana

Paschimottanasana

Purvattanasana I look over to Alan

2 x Urdhva Dhanurasana

Salamba Savangasana

Soft rug Savasana

I was interested in trying out the obstruction that Alan had mentioned but then something caught my attention when I was recording my sensory experience in relation to the posture names. The Sanskrit language of yoga speaks to my senses in a completely different way to the language of English. When I read English, I take on board a meaning of a word or entire sentence through a ‘mental’ cognition. My knowledge of Sanskrit is mainly limited to posture (Asana) names. For that reason, the Sanskrit names of postures do not provide me with a sense of ‘mental’ understanding but give me pictures in my mind and often bodily sensations. I read ‘Padanghustasana’ and I feel my head hanging down and my fingers wrapped around my toes and my belly gently touching my thighs. I read ‘Purvattanasana’ and I see the transition from Paschimottanasana and feel my body stiffen and the stretch over my shoulders as it recalls the effort to lift my hips.

           

Day 2

I’m blinded by big overhead lights 3 x Surya Namaskara A.

Loud Danish kids’ songs.

2 x Surya Namaskara B I try to hear my breath.

Parents looking at phones or minding smaller children.

Padanghustasana

Trikonasana A small boy. I smile at him.

A gust of air as Lisa runs past me.

Alan’s hands on my shoulders Parvritta Trikonasana

Parsvakonasana

Parvritta Parsvakonasana

Silence for a moment Padottanasana then more loud music echoing with the sound of feet running in the hall. The small boy in my vision again.

Sirsasana the sound of a ball hitting the ground

Vrkasana

Lisa interrupts me with a big gym ball. I help her do backwards walkover over the ball.

Lisa on exercise bike.

Surya Namaskara

Ardha Kapotasana A child is crying.

Paschimottanasana

I ask Alan to take a few photos of me Purvattanasana.

2 x Urdhva Dhanurasana

Salamba Savangasana I look into the bright light again. A ball rolls behind.

I lay down Savasana Something flies over my head. I get up.

The juxtaposition of Sanskrit and English became an oscillation between a bodily and mental experience of the practice, of feeling and experiencing postures in Sanskrit through my body and perceiving the surroundings in English through my senses.

Day 3

I take off my glasses. Blurred room.

3 x Surya Namaskara A

2 x Surya Namaskara B

A sweet smell of ice cream. Lisa shrieks with joy.

Padanghustasana ‘Wheels on the bus go round and round.’

The door goes, my dad enters.

Trikonasana ‘How did it go?’ I ask.

Parvritta Trikonasana His account of events.

Parsvakonasana

I gaze towards my fingertips and just see a blur.

Parvritta Parsvakonasana

Padottanasana My dad: ‘That’s very impressive Marie’.

Sirsasana

Vrkasana Fridge door opens – a bottle is being opened. Footsteps: ‘is it not beer o’clock?’ Laughter. Alan and my dad both cheer.

Ardha Kapotasana

The door to the entrance opens. Sound of shoes clicking on the floor. My mum. ‘Hello’, then to Lisa: ‘Har du haft det godt i børnehaven?’.

Paschimottanasana

Purvattanasana cheerful chatter

Alan’s eyes on me Urdhva Dhanurasana

Salamba Savangasana

My mum’s contour above me. ‘hvad spiser I i aften? Savasana ‘det ved jeg ikke’. Eyes closed. She walks off. Loud TV noise of children’s voices. I get up and walk over to Lisa to help her pour a glass of milk. My dad steps on my mat with his shoes. I pick up the mat.

Task 10 – Words that move you

Your task is going to be to seek out a text or a collection of words that have a similar effect on you as to what I describe in my reflections on Task 9: Find words that for one reason or other make you feel them physically rather than mentally. It might be to do with language or perhaps the text brings back a physical memory, perhaps it’s simply their aesthetic appearance that brings on the bodily sensations. When you have found your words/text reenact the physical sensations that the words/text brought on. What is the relationship between the somatic and mental understanding of the words/text?

Enjoy the task!