Yoga 101: Asana – The third Limb

Asana, the bodily observe, is essentially the most recognizable of the eight limbs of yoga. In the event you point out “yoga,” most individuals will mechanically image an individual in some stunning, flexible place. However, after all, yoga is far more than simply asana. There are seven different limbs of yoga within the system of Ashtanga Yoga. (Right here, Ashtanga Yoga refers back to the conventional that means of the eight-limbed path, fairly than Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, the system developed by Ok. Patabhi Jois.) As well as, there are a lot of different types of yoga that don’t embody postures.

Within the context of the eight limbs, asana comes third, after yama and niyama. The primary two limbs present a strong basis for the remainder of the observe. They instill wholesome intentions in order that our observe can bear healthful fruit. As well as, they offer us tips for residing a swish life.

As a result of asana is the preferred side of yoga, additionally it is essentially the most misunderstood. Western practitioners, who grew up on rigorous train, usually observe asana within the context of that acquainted paradigm. Once we consider train, we consider ideas like competitors and private bests. Consequently, we affiliate the flexibility to do acrobatic poses with being “superior.” However in accordance with the yoga sutras, mastery of asana is a totally totally different factor.

The Asana Custom

The phrase “asana” means “seat.” It actually refers back to the sitting posture. The unique goal of practising yoga asana was to help the physique for the pains of sitting meditation. This consists of not solely the bodily physique, however the physiological programs as effectively. Particularly essential is the nervous system.

Once I studied in India with B.Ok.S. Iyengar, one factor he mentioned caught in my thoughts and has helped information my observe. He mentioned that we observe asana to create a peaceable, calm setting for the thoughts. When the physique is comfy, the thoughts can extra simply be comfy.

Three of the 196 yoga sutras describe asana. All are within the second pada, or chapter. Right here they’re (from Alistair Shearer’s translation):

1. 2.46: The bodily posture ought to be regular and comfy.
2. 2.47: It’s mastered when all effort is relaxed and the thoughts is absorbed within the Infinite.
3. 2.48: Then you might be not upset by the play of opposites.

So let’s break this down. As with different posts on this Yoga 101 collection, my descriptions right here might be quick and candy. If you wish to delve deeper, choose up my e book, Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life.

Sutra 2.46: Alistair Shearer’s translation makes use of the outline “regular and comfy.” Different translations of this sutra describe asana as “agency and gentle,” “regular and straightforward,” and different such reverse qualities. For me, this says that balancing effort is the important thing. Steadiness implies a energy, stability and dedication. Consolation implies ease and calm. Steadiness with out consolation can create rigidity and tightness. Consolation with out steadiness can result in sloth and heaviness. So we steadiness the 2 in each pose.

Sutra 2.47: This sutra is essential for understanding the intention—and the facility—of asana observe. Discover that it doesn’t outline mastery by way of what our our bodies can or can’t do. There’s nothing about pushing additional or mastering fancy poses. The truth is, it implies the alternative. Not like aggressive sports activities, the place we continuously push our edge, asana asks us to calm down our effort. Once we can calm down effort in our poses, as a substitute of “doing” the pose, we begin to “be” the pose. In that present-moment expertise of the interior course of, our minds are absorbed within the Infinite. Anybody, with any physique kind or bodily capacity, can obtain mastery in asana.

Sutra 2.48: Flexibility, energy, tone, stress reduction—these are the qualities most frequently listed as the advantages of asana observe. And it’s true; common practitioners usually report these advantages. However these are merely aspect advantages to the true goal of observe: to have the ability to meet the ebb and stream of our lives with equanimity. Once we observe with steadiness and luxury in thoughts, we steadiness our nervous system and domesticate mind-body calm. Once we calm down effort and let go into the moment-by-moment expertise of asana, our minds turn out to be spacious and clear. By growing this state, we’re in a position to strategy our lives’ ups and downs with extra grace. I don’t learn about you, however I believe that is a unprecedented declare for a bodily observe.

So by the instrument of our personal bodily our bodies, we are able to contact into spacious equanimity that expands outward into our on a regular basis lives off the mat. That is the aim of asana. It prepares our body-mind for meditation, nevertheless it additionally helps us combine the meditative state into all our bodily pursuits.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third e book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards.