WHAT IS ASANA?
“When we rush, we’re missing the opportunity to create deeper and more lasting shifts in our understanding of ourselves, how our bodies work, how our minds work, how our life force works. ”
8 Limbs. Niyama. Tapas. Asana.
Have you heard these words before in your practice? If you’ve practiced for a month or more, I hope you have. They’re drawn from the Yoga Sutras, a central text translated on yogic philosophy and practice from the yogi sages of 2500 years ago.
Here’s a short summary, just to set up the flow of thought I’m inviting you to ride with me:
The 8 limbs of yoga: a path of practice laid out in the Yoga Sutras - verses compiled nearly 2500 years ago by the Sage Patanjali. Most of your teachers in the west have studied the Yoga Sutras - some for a few hours, some for a few months, some for a few years or more, it all depends.
Yama (moral codes)
Niyama (observances)
Asana (posture)*
Pranayama (extension of breath)*
Pratyahara (withdraws of the senses)*
Dharana (active single focus)
Dhyana (effortless meditation)
Samadhi (enlightenment, or merging with the divine)*
* not the only translations or conceptualizations of these terms, but these will have to do for now.
Niyama (observances): second limb of eight, focusing on self practice and comprised of 5 parts:
saucha (purity)
santosha (contentment)
tapas (discipline)*
svadhyaya (study of sacred texts)
ishvara pranidhana (contemplating on the divine)
* we’ll return to this one below
Asana: third limb of eight, most often translated from Sanskrit as posture, or seat. Yes, this is the asana of trikonasana (triangle posture), balasana (child’s posture), sukhasana (comfortable seat).
Before I jump into my 2023 tapas highlight, let’s pause here to remember that yoga is the whole package. The whole eight limbs. A daily practice on and off the mat.
Pause and feel gratitude for the ways that your practice has nourished your body, heart, & mind up to this moment.
I love the physical practice.
Movement through postures as vehicles for attuning to the energy flows in my body is an essential part of my physical, mental, and emotional well being practices. It has always been a stepping stone for my spiritual practice of mindfulness and meditation. Even though I can experience deep knowing, deep healing, and release in my physical movement practice, the stillness is really where the real transformation happens.
Having studied the historical development of yoga asana, it’s always been a challenge for me to take the leap from asana meaning both the seated position of ancient yogis in meditation and the full repertoire of contemporary poses that we see in studio classes.
As much as I love the physical practice, I want more. For myself. For all of us. On all the schedules. All the time.
One of my favorite teachers dropped something in a podcast chat last year that made me reexamine my physical practice in exciting ways. She said:
Asana is not the physical seat. Asana is the mind taking a seat in the body.
Whoa.
WHOA!
If you need a moment to let your mind turn that over a few times, please take that pause. There’s no rush.
So, what does that mean for our physical practice?
If asana is the mind taking a seat in the body - a definition and conceptualization that is much closer to the original use of the term, and also directly linked to the practice of meditation, then what are all the postures really about?
This deeper understanding about asana shows us a clear distinction between yoga as a work out and postures as a work in. Our mind taking a seat in the body is a state, a quality, if you will, of our practice. When we’re just going through the motions, we’re not practicing asana with the intention of yoga, of liberation. When we rush, we’re missing the opportunity to create deeper and more lasting shifts in our understanding of ourselves, how our bodies work, how our minds work, how our life force works.
Allowing the mind-body connection to lead in our physical practice creates a different flow. To create the inner environment for meditation, insight, healing, and transformation, we work through the gross level of imbalances in our bodies. Daily stressors, learned and intergenerational patterns, illness, injury, sleep patterns, occupation, even time of day are all inputs into the state of our physical well being in any given moment. Creating a sequence to meet the then present needs of the body, with the intention to create an inner environment for the mind to take a seat, is what asana practice is all about.
What does this mean for my practice in 2023?
In the niyama (second limb of eight, above), tapas is translated as discipline, and includes a bit of fire and passion in the word’s root.
What we practice on our mat is, in part, the self practice of niyama. Tapas is bringing the fire and heat of our inner energy for purification of the body. Tapas is creating a love for a regular practice (discipline without the shame) rooted in the passion of our spiritual journey.
Centering tapas in my self-practice and teaching means that discipline-without-shame is how I roll out my mat every day. It means that even while I adjust each day’s practice to my body’s needs, I step onto my mat with the intention of fire, of passion, of heat, of purification.
It means that whether we’re holding poses or flowing, you can expect a little more fire when you show up for vinyasa classes, too.
What does tapas mean for yin and restorative practice? It means having the discipline to make time for yourself to practice. It means to seek out, and request, pranayama classes, too. It means to embrace the path of yoga every day, in every practice, in every way that your body needs to rebalance itself for the deeper journey of transformation and enlightenment through meditation.
I’m here for all of that.
See you on your mat!
Want to dive into yoga history and philosophy deeper than what you can get in class?
Reach out if you’re interested in either training to teach, or deeper study as a practitioner.
Discussions & deep practice in Yoga Leaders Training:
The historical and development of yoga from classical to contemporary
The 8-limbed path
Yoga as a spiritual journey
Yoga as a mystical practice
Meditation methods and aims
Indigenous yoga practices under Imperialism
Cultural appropriation: how it harms & what we can do to heal the harm that has been done
Practicing yama & niyama in your daily life
Pranayama: deep healing
How to balance teaching and your personal practice
How to teach all 8 limbs
Honoring yoga’s roots and your own
