Waking

Intro - Chapter Five

“This book is my first attempt to articulate something about our consciousness that has struck me because of my unusual experiences with mind and body”

When I read Sanford discuss the consciousness he feels in his body, even within the paralyzed parts, I immediately think about the way Crohn’s has brought awareness to a part of my body as well. Sanford asks the reader if they were told to stretch the muscles between their ribs or lift their arches, would they know what to do? (xiii). In the same way, I can ask my friends if they could pinpoint the moment their lunch moved from their stomach into their intestinal tract. I have an acute awareness of the digestive tract in my body because of the acute pain that radiates from it frequently. Of course, my experience is nowhere near the severity or pain levels that Sanford experienced, but I understand the sentiment. Before I was diagnosed with Crohn’s, I rarely thought about food after I swallowed it. But my “unusual experience” has struck me with a consciousness I have not felt before. The same experience is felt through athletes like Derrick Rose, who tore his ACL and in rehab learned how to engage core muscles that actual helped stabilize a seemingly disconnected part of the body such as the knee. However, I don’t think you need to experience a traumatic injury or be diagnosed with an immune disorder to gain awareness of your body. Yoga can raise that consciousness! I am excited to continue to read this book and learn more specifically about Sanford’s journey into yoga practice. Although I have only seen a glimpse of his yoga practice post-paralyzation in the story so far, I am curious to know how it is possible that he feels “presence” in the back of his heels (5), an area of his body confined to paralysis.

“In retrospect, I realize how profoundly this feeling of boundary imprinted me...The spinal integrity of that thirteen-year-old boy was spewing all over the place, like a downed electrical line. The plaster cast directed this spillage back through his body, restoring his sense of place” (50)

The word “imprint” appeared multiple times throughout the text up to this point but this quote about the significance of the body cast on Sanford painted a vivid picture about what we have been doing in Yoga and Philosophy class so far. In class, we have used blocks to imprint into our bodies a presence that will guide the direction of poses. Outside of those blocks, we are imprinting on ourselves how the body is supposed to move and feel through asana practice. I can’t tell you how many times I have been standing this month and subconsciously pushed my ribs backward and tucked my butt under. Also, even though the muscles and tendons of our body are not quite as literally spewing all over the place as they were in the author’s body, I can see how over the years, bad posture and neglect have left some parts of our body twisted and knotted like Ipod headphones you just pulled out of your backpack. Just like the cast Sanford wore to keep his back in the correct place while his newly placed vertebrae fused together, yoga can serve as a cast to hold our body in its natural position until its muscles, tendons, bones, and joints fuse together in the correct way. It is also encouraging that when the cast was initially put on Sanford, he said it was the most excruciating pain he ever felt. The imprint, and the resetting of body parts by yoga is initially supposed to feel painful, awkward and unnatural. For someone who embarrassingly found Mountain Pose one of the most difficult poses to do at first, I find comfort in the fact that imprinting boundaries on our bodies is supposed to initially be painful.