I’ve kept up with a consistent Sadhu board practice since I got them in April. However, I haven’t been able to make much progress and go deeper with them despite the daily practice. It was mostly because I didn’t have a serious intention to properly work with the tool and get into the details of its nature. Funny how that works because, for the first time ever, I encountered an advertisement for the Sadhu board workshop in one of the social media groups I follow. I decided to take up the opportunity and see what I can learn by attending a 4-hour workshop for it.

I already knew that the resistance and fear I felt once I stepped on the board were all superficial. It was all mental and I simply haven’t committed enough focus and intention to the practice to dive deeper. Intuitively I knew that the workshop is simply a symbolic ceremony for me to amplify the intention and break through to the deeper practice level. That’s exactly what it turned out to be.

Intention Setting

As I expected, there weren’t many attendees. Besides me, there were just 3 women participants. It’s not exactly a popular way to spend your Sunday 😀 The teacher was a woman who used the tool for many years and her husband was attending as a facilitator with her for the first time.

There was a good amount of intention setting and mental preparation in the beginning where we exchanged some initial information about ourselves, what we were looking to get out of the workshop, etc. There was also smudging and hapé after which we drew out tarot cards. The cards were very aligned with the intentions that everybody voiced and it felt like there was a good amount of synergy and alignment in the group.

My cards were Empathy and Creation. The Empathy card was a direct reflection of my intention to connect better with the heart and feel compassion. The Creation card was a very interesting fractal artwork that reminded me of inner alchemy and the spiral of evolution that brings us up toward the divine source/superconsciousness. I read the description of the Creation card and it was about the conscious manifestation. It talked about how now is the time to decide what you want because going forward the time between the thoughts and their manifestation is going to decrease. This is very eerie because I just covered the topic of manifestation in the Kriya Yoga course and it couldn’t be anymore apropos for me. I’ve always considered the topic to be somewhat confusing and mysterious but lately, it has been unfolding and lending its understanding to me quite liberally. I feel like very exciting times are ahead.

I brought my own board with me and learned that there are static and dynamic types of boards. Dynamic usually involves softer materials which allow the nails to retreat a little bit and adjust to the shape of the foot. I had the static one which made it all the more difficult to start practicing with. This is also par the course because for some reason I never seek the easy route.

I thought there would be more instruction on the actual technique of standing on the boards but the intention setting was the main preparation for the process so soon after we geared towards starting the actual standing. I felt a little bit anxious but also confident that I’d be able to stand through whatever duration anyway. We dimmed the lights and onto the boards we went.

The Stand

I usually stand on the boards with the help of a table by leaning against it with my hands and gradually placing the feel. I kept approaching it as if there is a way to safely and comfortably place the foot on the board which would make standing on it not so intense. This time I had to just step on it with my left foot and then the right without any aid. I noticed immediately that you don’t really have an opportunity to adjust the placement of a foot so you have to stand with however your feet landed on the boards. This reminded me of the saying “Play the hand you’re dealt.” This is a common theme in a lot of spiritual practices where you learn to stay with what is whatever it is. I like those practices because they make you grow the most.

Right away the pain was intense. I felt my knees start shaking and remembered that we were advised to keep them slightly bent. Having them slightly bent helped with the shaking but required some muscle engagement and balancing to stand that way. The whole practice turned into finding the balance that would allow you to stay and be with the least amount of pain but was tricky to find.

At the same time, it wasn’t too bad and I felt I could definitely just power through it. I used deep breaths and exhales through the mouth as we were advised and that was helpful. However, I didn’t feel like breath was the complete salvation like it can be in some other challenging experiences. Mainly because no matter what one did there didn’t really seem to be an escape from the pain. One had to face it and stay with it, find a way to be with it. The women around me were much more vocal and I could tell they had a much more difficult time with the boards. Some were able to stay on them for a few minutes.

What I also found helpful were the mudras. My hands intuitively went to uttarabodhi mudra initially, then to pali, after that, I just used gyan and dhyani in combination with some intuitive movements of hands up and down as well as holding palms in prayer position. This intuitive movement was interesting as I can’t tell why exactly I was doing it but it seemed to help move the energy along and was at least a little bit of a distraction from the pain.

From the beginning of the shakes in the knees, I palpably felt the energy movements throughout the body. Soon I felt myself sweating despite not really moving much. I also felt thirsty and my mouth got pretty dry. Otherwise, I felt like I found my groove and alternated periods of stillness and relaxation with periods of deep breathing and mudras. Some women were rhythmically vocalizing or singing. This repetitive behaviour in my movements and their vocalizations seemed to be almost trance-like as if this was the way we were soothing ourselves. In such intense and difficult practices, the secret is in finding your way to cope with the experience, no matter what it is. Usually, it is something cyclical and repetitive like that.

A couple of times during the session I felt like laughing. I think I was surprised at myself for being able to stand on the boards so continuously that it made me giggly. At those moments the pain went away completely and I was able to just enjoy being. Eventually, I realized that I had completely forgotten about time. The goal was to stand at least 20 minutes but I couldn’t tell how much time had elapsed when everybody started wrapping up the practice and getting off the boards. By that time the pain did start to pick up again so that was the perfect time to end it. It turned out I ended up standing for 33 minutes which definitely didn’t feel that long.

The Lessons

The teacher helped me get off the boards and I felt the feet getting off of the nails which caused its own wave of pain. Standing on the ground was way painful as well so I quickly sat down still reeling from the onrush of energy throughout the body. The feet were very hot, seems like lots of blood rushed there. It felt good to be off the boards and be able to relax.

After that, everybody shared their experiences. Everybody was able to recognize the power of this practice. For some, it was a way to deal with childhood trauma and health issues. For me, it is definitely a tool for spiritual growth and strengthening of the will. The husband of the teacher also mentioned that it is a powerful way to strengthen the mind which rings very true after trying a lengthy session like that. To me, the way to practice the board is very similar to practicing meditation–one needs to find the right balance of presence(concentration), relaxation(non-resistance), and intention. Ability to bring these to the fore and balance in the practice allows us to do the same in every day life, where such skills can easily be percieved as superpowers if wielded masterfully. One of the women poignantly noted how this practice teaches us transmutation of pain into something beautiful. I thought that it is an apt description for the very purpose of our lives as what could be more noble than that.

At the end of the session, everybody set an actionable intention to make sure the practice ended in something constructively specific. Knowing that I have unlocked the next level of the practice, I had committed to having 1 lengthy session per week with the board. At this point, it is all about practice and implementation for me. It is not enough to learn or try something once, it has to become a consistent practice. My repertoire of practices has been expanding and it has been working really well. These days I structure my life around the practices so it takes priority for me. A 30+ minute Sadhu board session should make a perfect addition to my weekend at this point.