YOGA ASANAS
By Krishna Darshan

There is a great difference in the way yoga is practiced in the modern world, where new asana “styles” appear and disappear every day, with the way yoga was practiced traditionally for centuries.

The modern practice of yoga is almost exclusively consisting in the Asanas, which are traditionally considered only as the first step in hatha yoga, and even those asanas are not understood and practiced as traditionally taught.

In modern practice, the asanas are practiced mostly as a form of physical exercise, where most modern instructors focus on topics like muscles, joints, stretching, etcetera.
This modern practice has evolved into some sort of combination between western physiotherapy with some acrobatic and aesthetical elements. Those concepts are not found in traditional yoga practice and didn’t exist until the last few decades.

When we study the classical yoga scriptures most people are surprised when they find that we hardly see any mention about muscles and joints. (those are mentioned in traditional text of Ayurveda, not in yoga) The benefits and effects of the asanas are told in terms of how they affect and work on the Doshas, Gunas, Nadis, Chakras, Marmas, Kundalini, the mind and the spiritual awakening and transformation.
The first step or objective is to reach a point of balance where perfect physical and mental relaxation is experienced, in which one can literally forget the physical body and the distraction it causes in the process of meditation and samadhi.
The asana is like a foundation stone of a building, it gives the support to the mind for higher concentration possibilities.

If correctly practiced, the asanas balance the 3 doshas and that produces not only a state of health but also a state of mind where one does not get distracted by the physical body and its ailments and tensions.

The practice of Asanas is based on 2 important points

 Stability or lack of movement.
This is called Sthira or fixity, a state in which the body does not move at all, doesn’t change its position for a period of time.
That quietness of the body is gradually prolonged from one or two minutes in the beginning, to longer periods as the practice progresses and according to the difficulty of each asana.
The modern concept of constantly adjusting oneself in the asana or changing constantly from one posture to another, has really nothing to do with the practice of Asanas and it is a whole different thing (caled vinyasa whose effects are very different than asana).

• Comfort, easiness or relaxation (Sukha)
Another condition for an asana is that is has to be comfortable, free of any tension, pleasant and not a position in which one is struggling and fighting with himself or competing with others.

In every asana, there is normally some effort needed in order to get into and maintain the posture. But at the same time, there should be a conscious relaxation until the right balance between the effort and relaxation is achieved.
This is something similar to trying to tune a guitar string. If you tense the string too much the pitch will be too high and the string may break. But if there is not any tension the string will not sound properly neither. So tuning is finding the right balance between the effort and the relaxation, plus, that perfect balance must be sustained without change for a period of time.

If we understand this, we start to understand something about Asanas.

Besides that, there are another two points to be considered as very important during the asanas:

• Slow, constant and deep flow of the breath
In order to find the right balance in the asana, the breath must be very slow and very deep at the same time. If the breath is agitated, panting, blocked or irregular, the practice or real asana will be impossible and what you practice is something else but not Asana.

• Concentration of the mind and prana in one specific point or area
The mind and Prana are always together and interdependent, like two sides of the same coin. We cannot quiet one if the other is agitated, they both have to be disciplined together.
In the practice of Asanas, we are aiming to quiet and focus the mind and expand consciousness.
For this to happen, first the prana has to be liberated from any blockage and be able to flow freely. After that the inhalation and exhalation have to be regulated, made slower, then the prana starts to flow in the more internal Nadis until it flows in the Central channel or Sushumna nadi.
The mind has to accompany this process consciously by proper visualization all the time. If we want to bring the prana to a place but the mind is thinking on something else, we won’t be successful.

Therefore, it is important to learn from a qualified teacher, the proper way and area to concentrate the mind and the proper visualization for each of the asanas, pranayamas and other techniques.
When we practice all those points successfully, then there is a change in the gunas that predominate in the mind and in the individual vikriti.
First Tamas (lethargy, inertia) is overcome by Rajas (action, motivation, enthusiasm) and Rajas is overpowered by Sattva (purity, clarity, balance)

It is not possible to progress into deeper levels of Yoga until Sattva predominates over tamas and rajas.

For enhancing Sattva, the life style and diet also play an important role. This should also be learned from a learned teacher and is an important part of the yoga practice.
Eventually, Sattva itself is transcended in the higher form of samadhi.

• Asanas and Marma points
There are certain points in the physical body which coincide with important energy centers in the subtle or astral body. Such points are called Marmas (vital points) and Sthanas (stations, places or zones) or Kshetras (fields, domains, places) and most of them coincide with some of the acupuncture points used in traditional Chinese medicine and taoistic practices, which show the universality of this knowledge.
In the hatha yoga scriptures and other Agamas and Tantras, various exercises are explained as to how to move the prana and awareness to those points while doing specific practices.
By confining the prana on those points or areas, there is an activation of important levels of our subtle or psychic body which are normally dormant or inactive.
It is far more important to understand which nadis and points should be pressed and stimulated during each asana than knowing which muscles or joints are participating. During each asana, there is a specific point or area in which the awareness and prana should be focused.

There is also a specific order in which the focus should be done, first going from the top to the bottom (pravritti) and then from the bottom to the top (nivritti), and repeateddly down and up, up and down. This must be learned only from a qualified teacher.
Also, in each asana, the prana is forced or pushed to flow through some particular nadis or energy channels. The pressure of the body itself on such points, combined with the concentration of the mind and the proper breathing will gradually clean and open the blocked nadis and will allow the prana to flow more into the central channel instead of the peripheral ones.
That results in the Kundalini shakti being released from its dormant sate and become active, moving upwards through the sushumna. Kundalini shakti is not in any physical part, neither any muscle, tendon, vertebra, pelvis or genitals as wrongly taught by some modern teachers and new age books. But there is some correspondence between some areas of the body with some energy centers and nadis.

Kundalini is the spiritual divine power latent dormant in each individual. With its activation and upwards flow, the individual begins a process or return to its source. The mind moves away from searching for happiness in the external objects and sensory experiences (pravritti marga) and stars to withdraw and takes a path of dissolution of the effect into its cause (nivritti marga).
The experience of a separate and dualistic phenomenal world is gradually dissolved and the mind and awareness go back to its ultimate source getting dissolved or becoming one with it, in a state of non-dual bliss and experience or the true Self and inherent divinity.


Hari Om Tat Sat


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  • Krishna Darshan is a direct disciple of Swami Vishnudevananda and has been a yoga and meditation teacher for over 35 years. He serves as the main Hatha Yoga instructor in many Sivananda Yoga Teachers Training Courses (TTC), advanced yoga teachers training courses (ATTC), Sadhana Intensive Courses and advanced sadhana retreats at various of the Sivananda Ashrams worldwide.
    He is the director of the Sadhana kutir - El Silencio, a retreat center in Uruguay. He is also a certified professional vedic astrologer and teacher.

  • Om Namah Sivaya!

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