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Introductory note.
The yoga tradition doesn’t have to be followed but has be respected... when you use the grammatical form of plural in english in a sanskrit word is disrespect. You say one foot and two feet, why don´t you say two foots???? so the plural is: one āsana - two āsanam the same for yama - yamam.
So why do you say or even write: yamas, asanas, etc..., and one other thing: there are no capital letters in sanskrit :)
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A long time ago the (ऋषि), ṛṣi (wise/holy man) on the riverbanks or in the forest used to seat on top of an animal skin, as you can see on many of the paintings in ancient books and texts.
The animals skins on which they seated were different from rishi to rishi and had different meanings, for example: Siva is often pictured seating on a tiger skin, the most majestic animal in India, some yogi´s appear seated on an antelope skin, the antelope which is an animal very nervous and constant leaping from one point to another represents the mind, so one who seats on the antelope skin controls the mind.
Other animal skins have other meanings, but the purpose was to seat over the skin with the intention of mastering the control over the characteristics of the animal that reflect on the human being.
There is no actual proof that the ṛṣi´s did in fact use the animal skin to seat on because if you take a close look to the ethic principals of yoga ( yama and niyama) the first one which is called ahimsa roughly translated to non-violence would prevent the ṛṣi*s from using the skin of an animal to seat on.
I mentioned "roughly" translated to non-violence, because de word ahiṃsā doesn’t mean: non-violence, let´s take a look: a - negative form in sanskrit; hiṃsā- to hurt, so one should look towards अहिंसा ahiṃsā has an intention of non-hurting (not non-violence) other beings physically and/or mentally.
One often refers the act of seating as an āsana, but that is not completely right because if we tried to translate the word āsana from sanskrit to english we would not completely succeed and why is that?
First because sanskrit cannot be translated, a single word as different meaning depending on the text or the author, for example the word: म - ma can either mean "mine" or "mother".... which one to choose????
I will write down the "translation" given to me by the yogic tradition:
आसन āsana - position of the body in which you settle down, often the seated position, cushion to put under the body.
So word āsana does not refer the body in seated position only, it could be in a standing position, it could be upside down but the intention of settling down on a position. Not to seat but to settle in a position, and why? Simple because an āsana is not just a posture or position for the body, it is way much more than that.
You can go to the cinema seat with your legs crossed and are you doing an āsana? Of course, the answer is negative, and that is because you know that there is more to an āsana then the simple act of seating.
There is the relief of tension in the body, there is the correct alignment of the spine, there are the bandha*s, there is the consciousness on the breath, there is the mind and so on.
Take a look at the two sutra´s below by Sage Patañjali (पतञ्जलि)
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स्थिर सुखमं आसनम् ॥४६॥
sthira sukhaṁ āsanam ||46||
sthira- steady, firm, not wavering or tottering
sukha- pleasure; happiness; agreeable; ease; comfortable; pleasant
āsanam - postures
प्रयत्न शैथिल्य अनन्त समापत्तिभ्याम् ॥४७॥
prayatna śaithilya ananta samāpattibhyām ||47||
prayatna - continued effort śaithilya - decrease; looseness;
ananta - endless, boundless, eternal, infinite samāpatti - coming together, unity
Every yoga teacher likes to quote Patañjali, but normally and wrongly they just quote sutra 2.46 when they should quote both, one is depended on the other; you will notice that there is a lot of possible meanings and interpretations, from a very stiff position to a rather pleasant one.
The problem is that a lot of Yoga Teachers think that studying sanskrit is a waste of time and then give wrong meanings of some words to their students.
sthira - not rigid, not stiff, but firm on you purpose to practice, steady like a soldier in battle when things don´t go as you expected.
sukha - be happy with what you achieve, make the practice pleasant
āsanam - "positions", take another look at the sutra in which the word āsanam appears but bear this in mind: upaniṣad- upa - to seat; ni - near; śad - teaching (seat near the teacher to listen to the teaching), now, do you see the word "upa" in the sutra????? so why do you assume that Patañjali is referring only to a seated position?
So joining both sutra´s you get: the āsana should be steady in its purpose, pleasant regarding the practitioner body characteristics, the effort should be continued in order to loosen or relax and let the the mind unite itself with the boundless or the infinite.
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Yoga practice in the Katha Upaniśad
यदा पञ्चावतिष्ठन्ते ज्ञानानि मनसा सह ।
बुद्धिश्च न विचेष्टते तामाहुः परमां गतिम् ॥ १० ॥
yadā pañcāvatiṣṭhante jñānāni manasā saha |
buddhiśca na viceṣṭate tāmāhuḥ paramāṃ gatim || 10 ||
When the five organs of perception become still, together with the mind, and the intellect ceases to be active: that is called the highest state.
तां योगमिति मन्यन्ते स्थिरामिन्द्रियधारणाम् । अप्रमत्तस्तदा भवति योगो हि प्रभवाप्ययौ ॥ ११ ॥
tāṃ yogamiti manyante sthirāmindriyadhāraṇām | apramattastadā bhavati yogo hi prabhavāpyayau || 11 ||
This firm holding back of the senses is what is known as yoga. Then one should become watchful, for yoga comes and goes. (in the Katha Upaniśad)
So what is the purpose of yoga? to do asana for Instagram followers? or to really understand who are you and your purpose in this life?
The minimal amount of time to stay in a āsana is around five breaths, less than that you won’t even get a glimpse of the benefits of the āsana.
You will find this number in every haṭha yoga practice, whether it is aṣṭāṅga vinyāsa yoga style, or Iyengar yoga style or haṭha Yoga (style)
I must remind the readers that from the same tree called Yoga, were born 4 branches: karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jñanayoga and raja yoga, and is inside the raja yoga that the haṭha yoga came to be; if there is āsana then it´s haṭha yoga and so it is raja yoga we are talking and raja yoga is yoga for the mind.
To sum it all, let me tell you the way see and practice and teach āsana part in my classes.
I follow two simple methods each time a step into my yoga mat, which by the way is a reminiscence of the early animals’ skins used by the first yogis. The methods are my one creation and serve me well, if you find any good use for yourself please use it.
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Method nº1: Patañjali aṣṭāṅga
After studying the sutra´s of Patañjali i came up with this method for myself.
1st breath - yama and niyama- i think: why am i doing this asana, what is the value of it?
2nd breath - āsana - I think of the alignment, the bandhas, the physical part
3rd breath - prāṇāyāma - I go deep and look at the expansion of my breath my breath (prāṇāyāma = prāṇa + ayāma) "to not hold the prāṇa " - expand it inside.
4th breath - Pratyāhāra - as it says so in the katha Upaniṣad - withdraw the influence of the senses.
5th breath and more if I choose to stay more - dharana and dhyana - focus and meditation in the āsana that i am practicing, and maybe even for a split second - samadhi which on could translate as: a state in which all is well.
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Method nº2: my own experience in teaching and practice.
1st breath: the position according to the body characteristics and settle down on the āsana, it doesn’t matter if it is a "easy" posture or a more muscular one - settle down (body and mind)
2nd breath: adjust and adapt - do the āsana from the inside to the outside, adjust the āsana to the way you feel in that moment, remember that every practice is a different practice, there aren’t two equal days, so adjust to the way you feel and not to the way you see yourself in the āsana or even the way you saw the āsana in a photo of some Indian yogi or a movie.
3rd breath: full attention to mūla bandha and to the alignment of the coccyx and the lumbar region on your back
4th breath: full attention to your breath: how are you breathing?
5th breath: enjoy Yoga, be with yourself... feel
Now this is my view of the subject: āsana, honoring tradition but experiencing and teaching.
Remember: Yoga is a benefit not a sacrifice
Any question please feel free to comment, i don´t own the Truth and i do like to discuss it :)
Ricardo Gil
Senior Yoga Teacher
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