kunsthistorisches museum wien - Antonio Canova, Theseus besiegt den Kentauren - conquer of animal nature by human reason - backbend
Tragedy is essentially an imitation not of persons but of action and life, of happiness and misery.
All human happiness or misery takes the form of action;
the end for which we live is a certain kind of activity, not a quality.
Denn die Tragödie ist nicht Nachahmung von Menschen, sondern von Handlung
und von Lebenswirklichkeit. Auch Glück und Unglück beruhen auf Handlung, und das
Lebensziel ist eine Art Handlung, keine bestimmte Beschaffenheit.
Aristotle, Aristoteles - The Poetics, die Poetik
Die Philosophie soll keinerlei Theorie aufstellen, sondern vielmehr genau und differenziert beobachten.
Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophische Untersuchungen
Gerade in dem Augenblick, wenn ihr eures Körpers gewahr seid, ist das Höchste schon gekommen.
Meister Dōgen - Shōbōgenzō - Sanjūshichibon bodai bunpō
yoga drawings
yoga
- at any time, while being awake, while being alive, we encounter mental impressions.
- the objects have the potential to cause mental impressions.
- words and thoughts arise from mental impressions.
- attention goes to the perception of the object, to the mental impressions or to words and thoughts.
- words and thoughts are between attention and impression.
- I am attention, ego, subject and object.
- breathing has the potential to become a meditative act, when done mindful, with awareness.
- eating has the potential to become a meditative act, when done mindful, with awareness.
- perceiving has the potential to become a meditative act, when done mindful, with awareness.
- moving has the potential to become a meditative act, when done mindful, with awareness.
- directing - the attention, the action - has the potential to become a meditative act, when done mindful, with awareness.
- yoga is about elongation.
- yoga is about refinement.
- yoga is about alignment.
- yoga is about integration.
- yoga is about restraint.
- to sit still is to be in the here
- to still the mind is to be in the now
- to restrain from the sensual particularities is abstraction
- to hold an abstract object is concentration
the eightfold path of yoga according to the yoga sutras of Sage Patanjali
- yama - social interworking conduct
- niyama - self discipline
- āsana - posture
- prānāyāna - energy
- pratyāhāra - abstraction
- dhāraṇa - concentration
- dhyāna - meditation
- samādhi - super-consciousness
kosas - the sheathts of being
- annamaya kosa - anatomical body
- pranayama kosa - energetic body
- manomaya kosa - mental body
- vijnanamaya kosa - intelligence body
- anandamaya kosa - blissful or soul body
base
- where and how does the body touch the ground
- where and how does the body touch the body
- where and how does the body touch the space
- space is the base for experience
- structure (=logic) is the base for understanding
- understanding is the base for love
- love is the base for joy
- with exhalation touch the floor
- with inhalation grab the floor
action
- what is the skeletal action
- what is the muscular action
- what is the skin action
- what is the energetic action
- what is the intention
embedding
- the action is embedded between the base and the intention.
- if the base is weak the pose will be weak
- if the intention is weak, the body will take over and come up with
many reasons why the pose cannot be done.
arrangement
- intention
- action, Aktion - arrangement of intentions
- activity, Handlung - arrangement of actions
- happening, Geschehnis - arrangement of activities
- myth, Mythos - arrangement of happenings (Aristotle)
reference
- what are the reference points in the room for the body parts
- lying with the back on the floor: the floor is the reference for
the backside, the front has no reference; make the ceiling the
reference for the front (Faeq Biria).
- relate the feet to the room
- relate the knees to the room
- relate the pelvis to the room
- relate the spine to the room
- relate the sternum to the room
- relate the shoulders to the room
- relate the head to the room
- relate the perineum to the ground
- relate the head to the sacrum
- relate the sole of the feet to the floor
- relate the knees to the feet
- relate the chest to the pelvis
- relate the head to the chest
- relate the intention to the highest - brahmacarya
relations (between body parts)
- leader - follower
- active - passive
- unison - simultaneous performance of same action
- mirroring
- opposing
- one doing - one watching
analysis
- the analysis must start from the root of the action, beginning
with the outer extremities will lead to wrong conclusions (Faeq Biria).
- sometimes less is more; to get better understanding do less:
homeopathic yoga: do 5% of the final pose to understand the action.
- what are the base points
- what are the reference points
- what are the strength points, where is strength required
- what are the weak points, where is weakness, what gives up first
- what are the blind points, which points are invisible to attention
- what initiates
- what follows
correction
- observation - we try to keep our focus, our attention on the pose, on the body parts, on the inner self.
we try to stabilize the focus, to restrain the monkey mind from wandering. we work on the concentration.
- corrective action, alignement - we correct our posture. we lift what is too low,
we descend what is too high. we release what is tight, we exert what is loose. we turn in and out, lenghten
and shorten, push and pull. we bring to center and to periphery. we work on the posture.
- contradiction - if the corrective action is simple, singular, the mind wanders again after an instant.
so the corrections are more than one and contradit to each other and bring us in an unbearable situation.
slow start
- arrive
- start slowly
- start carefully
- try the possibility of an asana (Faeq Biria)
asana abstract
- preparation
- arrive
- do not do
- breathe
- analyze
- direct
- direct the attention
- direct the action
- going in
- stay
- arrive
- do not do
- breathe
- analyze
- direct
- going out
Attischer Jüngling - 6 Jahrh. v. Chr. - Marmor, Höhe 208 cm, Glyptothek München
art
- the artist develops his inner form
- he does not know his inner form
- the inner form relates to the outer form,
the inner form evolves with the process on the outer form
- the inner form can be
- creative
- preserving (reflection is preservation)
- destructive
watch out
- the body plays tricks on you
- the senses cheat you
- the feelings carry you away
- the mind misleads you
- the carryovers from tradition are ambigous
- the statements from contemporaries are ambigous
- everyone is right relating to its, his or her wishes