Sunday, February 14, 2010

Stillness and Sprezzatura

I've been thinking of stillness the last couple of days. In watching the Yoga Cup, the thing I admire the most in the lovely contestants is their stillness.

In a literature class a few years ago, my professor mentioned that great writers manage to make the expression of their prose seem effortless. To describe this, the prof introduced us to the word sprezzatura. According to grammar.about.com, the word was first used by Baldassare Castiglione in 1528: "[T]o avoid affectation in every way possible . . . and (to pronounce a new word perhaps) to practice in all things a certain Sprezzatura [nonchalance], so as to conceal all art and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it."

"Conceal all art." Don't ya just love that? Art here doesn't mean a painting or sculpture; it means something done deliberately and willfully, almost like struggling. Of course, the yogis work very hard to maintain their balance, be still, and achieve the full expression of the posture. But there's something so magical that happens when people achieve mastery at their given talent. The struggling seems to disappear, and all that's left is that radiant beauty. That's sprezzatura. Can you have sprezzatura without stillness of the mind, without quieting the whirlwind of voices and emotions inside? I doubt it. The person is just existing, expressing, and leaving traces of that connection to the moment in the art they create.

On another note, things have been pretty still in my life the last couple of weeks. No complaints--it's great for my mental and physical health, I'm sure, but the fervor that can fuel great blog posts is lacking ;-) I will continue working on achieving that same stillness in the yoga practice. Goodness knows I need more of that!

7 comments:

bikramyogachick said...

Sprezzatura. I LOVE this! I have never heard of that word. I agree completely, there is something so beautiful at watching these people who have achieved mastery at their talent. It's breathtaking. What we don't realize is that each of us has our own talent that is equally breathtaking, it's just maybe not so obvious like being a top athlete, performer, artist, muscian....we just need to uncover it.

hannahjustbreathe said...

Oooo, you may have just introduced me to my new favorite word!!

This is a lovely post---and it's a lovely idea, this sprezzatura. I like both very much.

Elisa said...

Thanks! I love the word itself. It sounds like a jovial dance.

yoginimandy said...

What a cool word! I'm going to try and use that in a sentence this week :)
I haven't so much as been working on being still, but noticing how "unstill" I am in my life. It's a great thing to work on/notice. thanks!

Elisa said...

The first step toward working on a problem is identifying it, Mandy! You are on your way :-)

thedancingj said...

Ooooh... gotta jump on the bandwagon and say that I LOVE this, too!! :) It really is the perfect word.

L.Z. said...

Sprezzatura - beautiful word indeed! Stillness is so inspiring. Such immense focus and concentration...