Subject: Hapworth and Yoga
From: Benjamin Samuels (madhava@sprynet.com)
Date: Sat Apr 08 2000 - 10:12:40 EDT
Yoga is like science of life. It is an attempt to frame all our
undertandings of reality and ourselves into one story so we can understand
it comprehensively. Through relating all the aspects of life into one
story we can see ourselves as a character in that story and understand
ourself both as the individual character that lives through our human body
and also, even more funadamentally, as the story itself itself, encompassing
everything. Usually our awareness is all split up, when you think about one
aspect of your life, you do so to the exclusion of many others. So it takes
a real effort to unify your thoughts, actions and words into one consistent
framework- and that is what yoga is all about. It is a great story that
offers a way of explaining what life is all about, and fitting all aspects
of life into that story. Learning yoga requires learning this story which
you can only really do by living your life as if a character in that story.
When you do allign yourself with your fullest understanding of the story is
when your at your best, you are the most realized. However there is a lot
of tension that develops between these somewhat realized states and the
status quo of our society. This tension makes for excellent material for
writing fiction. That's what Hapworth is all about. It makes use of this
incredible tension of a somewhat realized seven year old Seymour not just
pondering the truths he is aware of in his head, but acting and interacting
them out in a summercamp/vaudeville family setting that is familliarly
foreign to this kind of realization.
This kind of tension is what I like most about all the Salinger work. I
think in my own reading it is the most fundamental way that I interpret any
book or work of art, my favorite school of criticism, so to speak. In a
way, we can say that a piece of art that uses this tension well is a yoga
teacher. An important role in that overall story that said yoga is telling.
To be a yoga teacher is to be a story teller.
I better stop here for now, Will. This is the subject that tends to open my
flood gates and let that verbal diarhea spew out. I like telling stories,
but want to stick to what will interest at least someone reading it.
In the middle of writing that last paragraph I was interuted to learn that a
bird had become stuck in my garage. He was flying towards into the glass of
the window in the back of the room away from true freedom of the open grage
door. This is an absolutely true story. As I waved an errant ski pole near
the window trying to get the bird to give up on the freedom of the outdoors
it could see so plainly through the window in front of him and realize that
freedom was waiting on the other side of the gargage, out of fear, he
climbed down into the small space between the glass on the top pane and the
glass on the bottom pane where they overlap when the window is open and the
bottom pane is raised. Now he was really stuck. And really scared. My old
technique of scaring himin one direction or another couldn't work any more,
so I carefully managed, talking sweetly to him all the time, to get my hands
in there and lift him up. So scared at this point that he was frozen into
inaction, the bird allowed me to hold him for a moment even after I lifted
him out of the trap of the window. Then he started to flap and I sent him
straignt towards the open garage door and the freedom beyond. His life may
never be the same. This really happened as I was writing the last
paragraph. My mom saw the whole thing.
Love,
Ben
----- Original Message -----
From: William Hochman <wh14@is9.nyu.edu>
To: <bananafish@roughdraft.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2000 7:36 AM
Subject: Re: hapworth/Updike
> Ben, can you talk more about teaching Yoga and how it connects with
> Hapworth? Thanks, will
>
> On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Benjamin Samuels wrote:
>
> > > For those reading Hapworth (still one of my favorite Salinger texts!),
I'd
> > > like to know what parts work best for you, will
> >
> >
> > Will,
> >
> > I've only read Hapworth once and so only seem to have a spiraling earful
of
> > a glibbering seven year old Seymour in my mind about it. Soemday I'll
get
> > the courage to go back again and work out some ideas on it. One thing
that
> > struck me though in a quite personal way was the part where he is
telling
> > Bessie all about how she has to control her breathing, specifically
which
> > nostril is the dominant one. This is an idea I've come across though my
> > preactice of yoga and have thought a lot about. When Seynour suggests a
> > technique of laying on one's side with your fist stuck in your armpit I
was
> > stunned. That's a rather uncommon technique as far as I know and one
I've
> > taught in classes. I only know a few people who share that little bit
of
> > obscure knowledge so seeing Salinger mention it was like watching him
grab
> > the most personal thing in my head and write into his story. But then
this
> > is my overall impression of Salinger as well. Usually it's just not so
> > concrete.
> >
> > Love,
> > Ben
> >
> > -
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