Movement and Action

 

In Iyengar yoga, we make an important distinction between action and movement.  Movement is activity without awareness while action is activity with awareness.  In action, the intelligence (buddhi) is yoked to the movement bringing us into yoga (integration). Movement can be done without any thought, feeling, or awareness.  This is how we get around most of the time.  We get out of bed, walk to the car, take a sip of coffee, talk on the phone without thinking much at about what we are doing and saying.  We usually do not feel the different parts of the body in motion.  With action, our movements become infused with awareness of the movement and the effects of the movement on our body/minds, consciousness, and conscious.

 In a recent class, Abhijata Iyengar was teaching this point with a simple example.  In the first exercise, she asked us to go from standing (tadasana) with arms stretched overhead to standing forward bend (uttanasana) in a series of quick movements:  up, down, up, down, up down.  We might feel good from this movement, pain, or nothing at all. We got warm, the blood started to pump, our breathing deepened, the hamstrings ached, the mind was thinking about lunch.  This was not yoga.  In the second exercise, we were asked to repeat the movement between standing and forward bending but this time with the action keeping the knees straight, the thighs lifting.  This action requires the intelligence pinned to the knees to keep them pulling up and straight during the movement.  She pointed out how we all moved much more slowly this second time, that each step of the way we had to keep our intelligence pinned to the knees or they would fall.  She asked us to consider how the pulling up of the knees was felt in the thighs, the abdomen, the spine, the breath.  She asked us to notice how with action our consciousness was spreading deeper into the body, how we were concentrating and aware of our movement, how the action brought us into a feeling of integration that wasn’t present the first time.   

 

While movement is done without much thought, action allows us to discern what is needed in each moment and requires a different set of skills.  In action we strengthen our intelligence to respond creatively to novel situations.  When something unexpected is occurring, we can use our intelligence to respond to what is happening with discernment rather than acting out of rote.  Because each moment is novel, action moves us into awareness of the current moment, of what is unfolding right in front of us.  With this awareness, we have the chance to respond creatively to the unfolding moment rather than repeat what we do habitually. 

 

What we are learning about action in asana can help us off the mat to move through life with more thoughtfulness and wisdom. My response to the disturbing email, the angry child, the confused mother, the irritated driver will be less reactive when I can use my intelligence.  Action requires us to slow down, to consider the consequence of our movements (including speech), to realize the many different ways of seeing things and responding freshly.