Thursday, June 22, 2006

Thoughts from the F Train

This morning I was thinking about how often my yoga teacher tells us that the mind is rajastic, and the body is tamasic. What she is referring to are 2 of the 3 Gunas of Ayurveda: rajas (activity) tamas (inertia or gross) and sattva (essence or subtle).

When she says this to us, she is clearly trying to get us to still our minds and perk up our bodies--lift the kneecaps, firm the elbows, etc. etc. When she says this it seems as if this rajasic mind/tamasic body problem is universal, part of the human condition. We are all couch potatos whose minds are chattering like monkeys.

But as I was sitting there on the subway, it occured to me that there are some people with the opposite problem. People who are physically active but their minds are mired in sludge.

Do the initials GWB mean anything to you?

6 comments:

Tipitina said...

Monkey brain!
Monkey brain!
Monkey brain!

PhDilettante said...

This is very sattva.

PhDilettante said...

GWB = King of the 'Murkans.

Tipitina said...

I thought GWB meant the George Washington Bridge. You know: the Bridge and Tunnel Crowd.

RayPod said...

Great White Brother

Doohdle said...

Gee, whatta bum.