Day 13: Why Search?

Christian — Why Search?

The session happened spontaneously. The initial intention was to go to the garden for the hatha yoga preparation and to revisit the baby's twelve stages, as every day, before the Shambhavi practice. At one point, in the foetal position on the right side, the comfort is immediate and total. Christian decides to stay there and not move.

Not moving

No adjustment needed. No desire to explore comfort or discomfort, warmth or cold. Everything comes to him, without effort, and the nervous system accepts whatever arrives as it arrives. At no point does he find himself in accumulation — in the reservoir of bodily experience with an adult interpretation. The nervous system receives without storing.

Christian decides not to go to the left side or onto the back. He is perfectly comfortable on the right side. And the question emerges: what is the point of going to look in other positions for what is comfortable or uncomfortable?

The confusion of exploration

Exploration, at a certain point, can also be done in a very basic way, without constantly accumulating. Accumulation creates confusion. It makes you reflect on things that, ultimately, do not need to be reflected upon. When you are comfortable in a position that is good, why go looking for something else to feel uncomfortable?

The baby does not do this. The baby is placed in a position, and if it is comfortable, it stays. It does not go looking for discomfort to compare itself. It does not explore to accumulate information. It is there, and that is enough.

The question

But a question emerges — and this is probably the adult thinking. There comes a moment when the foetal position, or lying on the back, is no longer enough. The next stage must come: going onto the belly, lifting the head, expanding the possibilities that will lead to autonomy. When you are comfortably lying on your side, how do you move to what follows? How is the transition triggered?

This is the question of development itself. The baby does not ask it. Maturation pushes the baby forward. But the adult revisiting these stages does not have that biological drive. The question remains open.

What we retain

Why search when the body is comfortable? On Day 12, the key word was "settling." On Day 13, the question goes further: why go looking in other positions for what is comfortable or uncomfortable? The baby does not do this — it is placed, it stays. The adult, by contrast, seeks to explore, to compare, to understand. Day 13 questions this reflex.

Constant exploration creates confusion. Scanning, comparing, accumulating sensations from one position to the next ends up blurring the signal. The first days of this journey were necessarily exploratory — it was essential to rediscover the floor, the surfaces, the positions. But at a certain point, exploration becomes an obstacle. It prevents simply being there.

The nervous system accepts without accumulating. For the first time, Christian explicitly notes that he is not in the sensory reservoir — not in the accumulation of bodily experiences with adult interpretation. The nervous system receives what comes, without storing it, without categorising it, without comparing it. This is a pre-Manas mode of functioning — exactly what the newborn does.