Evgeny Sno, not only our wonderful teacher, but also an amazing master of allegories:
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“What does this bridge of yours look like? – asked the girl Nastya, who called our school. – I love yoga and cycling. Will I like bridge?
– Well, in essence, bridge is, of course, the same as a bicycle race, – I said. – Bridgist sits for a long time and must keep their balance. The tournament is long, and you have to stay in the saddle and get to the finish line. By the end you get very tired, but you have to pedal all the way. And the other competitors are trying to push you.
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– Wow! – Nastya was surprised. – Real sport!
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“Of course,” I continued. “But this is all purely external. Yes, when you play bridge, it may seem to others that you are racing a long distance. But from the inside, the whole process looks completely different. You are constantly exhausting yourself by doing complex exercises that are so similar to each other and at the same time completely different. Your body is sitting on a chair, and your brain is frantically bending, trying to win a contract that cannot be won, or to correct the stupidity that it itself did, not more than thirty seconds ago. So, in essence, bridge is, of course, yoga. And in spirit too. For twenty years this occupation seems to me to be some kind of unknowable Eastern practice.
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– Thank you, – said Nastya. – I’m terribly interested! But it’s incredibly difficult, isn’t it?
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“Not really,” I said. – Difficult when going uphill. And then you go down the mountain and the bike rides on its own, if you want to get off it, you can’t. It would be better, of course, to stop when you are on the top of the mountain and no longer go down. But where is this peak? No one knows. That’s how we ride. Join! ”
