Endurance

I like the below description Dr. David Hawkins, in Power vs. Force, describes regarding the states of physical endurance. Personally, I connect it with the practice of Ashtanga Yoga. It's something that has been coming to the forefront lately. The process of entering into a realm, when the body fatigues...to then, find greater strength and awareness...ables one to break down what the mind deems impossible to possible.

I've experienced, in the process of practice, that once I break through the body's fatigue, it allows for an opening into aligning myself to a greater energy or connection to, and a trusting in the life force/prana that resides in each of us. Interestingly enough, it becomes more about letting go, to let flow...

Lately, in practice, I've had this inner voice telling me to pay attention...to even the smallest of things...its a soft, but firm voice...to how I place my hands on the mat...to the smallest of transitions between postures...to the pivot of the foot...to the slight softening of the gaze...I've been called to deepen my focus and internal alignment. Does this mean, my inner teacher is becoming more present?

I've made the habit of ending each practice standing in Samasthitih, just how I start. It represents the pulsation of life and process. There is always the quest, that is present in all of us, to want to reach out...explore...and expand...to then come back home to which we came...with a deeper sense, of something more...to then, start all over again, the next visit to the mat...

It's widely documented that long-distance runners frequently attain sublime states of peace and joy. This very elevation of consciousness, in fact often inspires the prolonged transcendence of pain and exhaustion necessary to achieve higher levels of performance. This very elevation of consciousness, in fact, often inspires the prolonged transcendence of pain and exhaustion necessary to achieve higher levels of performance. This phenomenon is commonly described in terms of pushing oneself to the point where one suddenly breaks through a performance barrier and the activity becomes effortless; the body then seems to move with grace and ease of its own accord, as though animated by some invisible force. The accompanying state of joy is quite distinct from the thrill of success; it's a joy of peace and oneness with all that lives.
It's notable that this transcendence of the personal self and surrender to the very essence or spirit of life often occurs at a point just beyond the apparent limit of the athlete's ability. The seeming barrier is predicated by the paradigm of one's own past accomplishments or of what has been recognized as theoretically possible. Take, for instance, the historic "four-minute mile": Until Roger Bannister tore down that barrier, it was universally accepted that it wasn't humanly possible to run any faster; Bannister's greatness wasn't just in breaking the record, but in breaking through that paradigm to a new model of human possibility. This breakthrough to new levels of potential has correspondences in every field of human endeavor; in many diverse enterprises, those who have achieved greatness have given parallel accounts of the circumstances surrounding their accomplishment.

~ David R. Hawkins, M.D., P.h.D., Power vs. Force