Art & Science

The Experiential & Scientific Foundations
of Yoga from the DSL Perspective

On the Merging of Arts & Sciences
of Feeling AND Thinking
in Physical/Mental & Therapeutic Yoga

One important benefit of studying yoga is it can, more than most systems, get us more in touch with our body and mind, and their sense of integration or connectedness. One of many things that yoga is is a way to discover, open up and maximize internal feedback systems within our BodyMinds. This in turn opens us up to more feedback about the world, and the people, outside our skin.

Your Human BodyMind: A Tool of Self-Study

Your body is an amazing, finely tuned instrument, able to feel and see deeply into, to examine, itself. Unlike more mechanical systems of therapy and exercise, a unique feature of physical/mental yoga (which by definition includes meditation) is your opportunity to spend long periods of time actually studying in minute detail what is happening in your bodymind. Your bodymind provides you with information and feedback about many events and processes; events that are internal, as well our reactions and responses to external events. Much, if not all, of your history is also stored in the neuromuscular and myofascial system.

A Right Angle In Time

One aspect of Meditation is the Right Angle To Time. It is like a snapshot of yourself at one moment in time, yet in that moment is much activity, all happening in the present moment, yet expressing and reflecting much, if not your entire, history. Some people believe all the way back to the beginning of your life. (I would say at the point where the nervous system has developed enough to record sensory and/or motor activity, which is probably a little different for everyone.)

The outer movements of a so-called "static" yoga posture might be outwardly appear quite still, yet deep within, fantastic amounts of subtle activity (such as the relentless firing of synapses, the near-continual flow of neurotransmitters, and the subtle contractions and relaxations of muscle fibers) are expressing your past conditioning at each and every moment. It is like a whole universe — past, present and the potential future — revealing itself in one moment in time.

We can create the opportunity to explore and study ourselves in much depth and detail. In the process, the Power of Awareness can bring about many changes, some subtle, others grand, some instantaneous, others occurring over long periods of time. As discussed elsewhere on this site, there are Microgenetic Moments, where brain waves reaching down into the body meet sensations and signals reaching up from the body toward the brain and mind. When and where these waves converge become healing moments, bringing great and desirable, even profound change, sometimes throughout the whole bodymind.

The more we practice using this system, the more it reveals to us. We do this by learning to Pay Attention (paying attention is the Essence of Awareness) to the sensations and feelings, and our responses to them. The very act of doing so actually facilitates nerve pathways delivering information throughout your body and to and from your mind. We literally practice and fine-tune the Art of Feeling and Interpreting messages and functions flowing through our consciousness.

This way, we have access to our very own, highly sensitive instrument of self-study and observation — Personal, Internal Research, if you will.

But There Are Limitations …

Yet it is true that while the body never lies, we don't always get a clear picture of what it is trying to tell us, of what's actually happening from feelings and sensations alone. There are certain limitations on how accurately the physical and emotional sensations can be converted to our mental and more linear interpretations.

Part of this is because the human nervous system is in great part a Negative Feedback System. It very often tells you more about your reactions to phenomena, rather than their source. In many cases, we feel the symptoms more than we feel the causes. This is why, for example, people can eat donuts or candy for many years before they feel the accumulating, negative effects. While often accurate, relying strictly on what we feel "In-the-Moment" can in many instances lead us to very inaccurate — sometimes opposite — interpretations of what's actually going on.

The Art of Feeling PLUS Rational Processes

Therefore, along with practicing and learning the Art of Feeling through Non-Rational processes, we must also become better at feeding and using our Rational and Intellectual processes. This involves providing the rational, analytical mind with accurate (to the best of our ability) data AND learning the Tools of Thinking.

One of these tools is the Scientific Method. With it, we learn how to examine and evaluate natural, physical phenomena, and how to interpret the information and insight we gain. Yes, like intuition and feelings, it has its own limitations, but is invaluable to truly understanding the natural world and our physical selves.

BodyMind & Physical Sciences

The primary material we'll use to learn about the scientific method and effective thinking will be in the various sciences you'll be learning to make yourself into a more effective, knowledgeable and insightful Yoga Educator.

To get an overview of these sciences, please see this List of the Sciences we'll be studying.

These Tools of Thinking and Scientific Topics are essentially concepts we'll use to examine how we think, what we think about, and how we apply our thinking processes. … Then we practice applying those concepts, something that takes energy and commitment. In the process, you'll learn more about yoga, too.

While it appears to come more naturally to some people, others have to work at it. … Some have to work a LOT.

Some people are far more comfortable in what some people call the "Touchy-Feely" world. That's quite alright with me. Yet, without studying via the intellectual, linear and rational processes as well, it is difficult to attain a full understanding, integration and expression of what it is to be a fully actualized human being. Just as there are vast limitations on those who cannot feel deeply, there are certain things you just cannot do without more refined thinking processes.

Just one example is Advanced Postural Assessment for determining which postures or asana a particular Student or Client should be, or not be, doing. In my experience, those who claim they can do this reliably and consistently through strictly intuitive means are, basically, kidding themselves. Yes, intuition (depending on how you define it) comes into play. But many a skilled intuitive has missed critical information hidden from purely sensory view.

This website, then, is primarily for those who are interested in developing BOTH sides of Being Human: The Feeling, Meditative, Intuitive side, AND the Rational, Intellectual, Analytical side, and do so in a way that they work together, with minimal conflict between them. At best, as a unified, whole system. (I am not saying this is always easy, by-the-way. Some people have developed this skill much earlier in life, maybe even have a genetic proclivity. … For myself, I'm still working on it.  )

Feeling and Thinking are like the two wings of a bird. Birds need both wings to fly to their maximum heights and speed. Sure, a bird with one or even both wings damaged or lost can survive for a time; but severe limitations on their Birdness are imposed by the loss of only one their wings.

The War Against Thinking

If you spend enough time around certain groups of people, or reading their stuff, you'll eventually come across ideas that assert that thinking — and the scientific method –  is what has gotten human beings out-of-touch with Nature and God and into Deep Trouble. They adamantly tell us we need to get fully In-Tune with and reliant on our intuition, being fully in-the-moment, operating instinctually, and dispense, as completely as possible, with the intellectual, thinking side of the mind. … Interesting thought. But it is still a thought, which is a paradox such thinkers seldom admit to.

Some of them even use the Biblical story of Adam and Eve and their eating from the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge as the source of all humankind's troubles. (They should read Ken Wilber's take on that, in his book Up From Eden.)

While you will find no argument from me that far too many people are far TOO rational, and TOO out-of-touch with their feeling, meditative and intuitive side, some of the above mentioned anti-thinking people take it all to an extreme. It's as if thinking has let us down and become the enemy.

Of course, as an example of Jnana Yoga as taught by Joel Kramer, one could say that the thought that thought is bad is itself a thought. So, is is it bad to think the thought that thought is bad? Is it not a bit contradictory, paradoxical, and even arrogant to think this is even possible for more than short periods of time? (Unless of course you live in an ashram or a cave, in which case you might be able to get away with it longer.) … Part of the trouble is some people have a very limited idea of what, exactly, thought actually is and how it works. … We'll be talking about that quite a bit here on the website.

The DSL Method of Yoga and Bodywork believes that it is the other way around. The cerebral cortex, the rational, intellectual mind, is what enabled human beings to make discoveries and inventions allowing us to get beyond the brink of starvation, to know that there are regular cycles of seasons and how to grow food in tune with the changes in weather (an insight that is NOT intuitive), to build shelters that protect us from the elements, to develop herbal medicines and healing processes, and so on. … It is the rational mind that plays a great part in the discovery and process of Being Human, and of Yoga, as well.

It is WE who have let thinking down. It is WE who have not invested the time, energy, study and practice necessary to use the conscious, rational, linear mind — or the scientific method — to its fullest. One reason is that it takes WORK, mental energy, to do. Energy that many people prefer not to exert. … But the tools of effective and productive, even satisfying, thinking are there, if we only pick them up and learn how to use them, and then … USE THEM! … And used correctly, they become the natural balance and complement to our intuitive, feeling, meditative side.

As Joel Kramer, my primary yoga teacher, and whom Yoga Journal calls The Father of American Yoga said:

The Head without the Heart is Barren. …
The Heart without the Head is Chaos.

If this path of exploring and merging BOTH of these two vastly important — and useful! — elements of being human interests you, then this website, and DSL Let-Go Yoga, are for you.

I will soon have various links to articles, reports and e-courses that will help you along this path. In the meantime, you could up for my e-Letter so you can keep up on what's happening here. … And LEARN stuff, too.

If you have not already, please SIGN UP for my Weekly, FREE e-Letter.

Thanks For Reading,
David Scott Lynn
DSL: Your Hi-Touch Up-Link to the Inner-Net