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Book Name: The Shadow of the WhipPrevious     Next
 

-- then there is a gap, and that gap will create hurts and aches. That gap can be filled by Postural Integration or Rolfing or the Alexander technique.

For a different mind a different body is needed immediately. So the body and the mind have to go together. One should always take care of it. If your mind grows a little and you feel that there is a distance and the body is lagging behind, bring the body to the state of the mind, otherwise you will not be able to go too far. The distance will be too much and a conflict will come. One cannot go without the body; the body has to be taken care of. And the body is great when it is with you, it helps tremendously. It is a base, the very ground of all your growth.

In the old days the traditional method of working was first the body, then the mind. That's what the yoga system is: first work on the body, first let the body be ready for the jump of the mind, and then let the mind jump. That was the old pattern, but then many problems came because people got so obsessed with the body that they forgot about the jump. The body is a vast thing, so they were lost in postures and asanas and gymnastics, and they completely forgot that this was just to be a jumping board.

You can find in India great yogis as far as their body is concerned, but their mind is ordinary and very stupid. They have become very capable with the body. They can stop their breathing, they can stop their heart-beat. They can go underground for months together and remain alive without oxygen. They can drink poison and will not be killed. These things are good -- you can appreciate them and applaud them -- but ultimately they are meaningless. What are you going to do with these things? You become an exhibitionist, you become a circus.

And these people have completely forgotten that with such a great base, now you take the jump. They don't know how to meditate; they don't think about meditation. And these postures were invented to make you so solid in the body that when you take the jump of the mind, the body simply follows you like a shadow. The idea was good but went wrong. Then by and by people moved to the other extreme: they started

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