Words and Silence

Dear Carlos,
After my first class with you I would like to share some ideas, if that is all right with you.
It’s maybe just a difference in perspective. I am not so much for words… I would have liked you to speak less during the class and focus more on the breath… I hope you are fine with me telling you this.
Maybe it is because I use words a lot during the day… and sometimes I just believe that not speaking/not activating the mind through words could really be therapeutic for the soul… But your intentions are so good – and I totally agree with everything you say – even if here and there were things I didn’t fully understand…
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Thank you very much for your mail. I do appreciate feedback, and I am glad you wrote to me.

Although it is true that a good Yoga class can create a beautiful state of mind – relaxed, peaceful and more connected to the present moment – it is also true that a few moments after the class the old thoughts will come back and that beautiful state will be gone.

The reason for this is that we have too many misunderstandings and wrong beliefs about ourselves and the world around, which creates an enormous amount of tension and stress and suffering. Yes, by deeply focusing on the breath we can create a break into that disharmony… but that is not that different from taking a Valium or drinking a glass of wine or watching a movie. The mind calms down, but only momentarily. My aim with the classes – and with the people who stick with them long enough – is to create a quiet mind not only during the classes, but also – and especially – during our everyday life. And for that we need new knowledge, new information, new ways to see the world that are more in harmony with nature. And for that we need words. Behind every emotion, and in particular behind the suffering we experience, there is a thought, a belief. If we want harmony we need to recognize those thoughts and beliefs, and question them.

A quiet, peaceful, silent moment is very good and very useful because it can show us and remind us of what is possible, and in some classes we focus just on that. But silence is not opposed to ignorance and unless we go to the core of our psychology, our suffering will surely return.

You are very welcome to write me back with more feedback, or questions or whatever. It does not need to be “positive”. It just needs to be sincere… as you have been.

Thank you,
Carlos