What is ‘podborka’?

Some of you mugs readers are heavy into pictures and imageboards, and not a few of you are decidedly into what could best be described as the ‘chick’ variety.

Sooner or later, you’ll run into that strange word podborka — and webcrawled in furious manner to find out what it means.

It’s подборка (pronounced PARD-bore-kah), which is Russian for ‘selection.’

Quality of life just improved, so to speak.

“This question interests many of us, and each of us understand what it means and feels differently. Throughout my practice, ‘understanding’ of it has evolved. And I really don’t remember what it meant to me a month ago. I believe it would be a great idea if everybody describes how oneself arrives to that state (and/or feeling), and what they experience, even if it is only for short period of time.”

The response to which was:

“For me podborka is a 2-lever switch that creates a conscious shift. One lever is physical, the other is mental (attention on the Dan Tien).

“In my most recent development, I had to make a ‘leap of faith’ to trust this state when I was working with a partner [who] was attacking me full force. I discovered that, while before and after the contact, I was able to sustain this state — during the contact and while moving, I was getting rigid and mechanical. I was afraid of hurting my partner and myself, and could only keep 100% of my attention on the Dan Tien. This fear can also be interpreted as ‘fear of loss of control’ of sorts, and the ‘leap of faith’ can be interpreted as learning to trust the deeper aspects of your mind.

“Another question that comes up here is, if ‘I’ am not the one moving my body, then ‘who’ is? Sasha constantly reminds us when he says, ‘I don’t know exactly what I am doing next.’ Fascinating stuff!”

(ca. July 2010)

Gee, ya think?

Filename: podborka 105 (702 × 502 pixels) (click image for larger size)

© The Naked Listener’s Weblog, 2011. Image via c4c.