Part 2: Asana for Everyone
Part 1 looks at why we run into trouble when we over-emphasize physical postures and downplay the other aspects of yoga. Here we talk about the importance and availability of asana - for everyone.
Asana, the 3rd of the 8 limbs of yoga, is a beautiful, important practice. Many of us find that asana simply feels good in the body. It feels freeing and soothing to move and flow and twist and reach and balance. Physicality can help us get out of our heads and calm our minds.
In early yoga, there was only a single asana: sitting, in meditation. In Sanskrit, asana translates to “seat” or “seated posture.”
Have you ever sat still, with your spine straight and alert, for a long time? Can you do it comfortably for even 5 minutes? Most likely, it doesn’t take much time before your knees begin to ache, your back fatigues, and muscles and joints get creaky.
Additional poses were created to prepare and strengthen the body so it may be able to sit for long periods of time in meditation. That’s why we train the body - to help us connect with our breath and settle our minds.
Importantly, asana is an effective way to practice how to be in life - where we can be met with challenging situations, we can be uncomfortable, we may be tasked with learning something new. These situations are all replicated on the mat. Our physical practice shows us how we can meet these challenges. Will we give up and walk away or will we rely on our breath to steady us? Can we stay in discomfort or unfamiliarity for just one more breath? Ten more breaths? If we keep returning, trying again, do we notice ourselves adapting and improving?
Or maybe we begin to understand that it’s fine to just try, to play around, to explore without expectation. Maybe we will surprise ourselves, but it’s not about the outcome - even if we never improve, or fail to meet some arbitrary standard we hold for ourselves, it’s okay. There is no yoga police who will write us a ticket or take us away to yogi jail.
We learn when to push ourselves, and when to honor the need to back off and rest. We may see that some days balance is easy, and some days it’s not. We realize the important part is showing up to our practice, not achieving a goal. We learn each day or practice is a new opportunity to try again. All of this can be practiced and learned without ever hooking your foot behind your head.
What if we try shifting our thoughts about what a strong asana practice is? Sure, it could look like a person learning to put their body into an arm balance, but it doesn’t always. It could look like a person who after weeks or months of practice, is now closer to touching her toes. Or being kind to herself and trying again if she wobbles and falls out of Warrior III.
A strong asana practice could look like relaxing into the stillness and quiet of a yin or restorative class, or showing up consistently to chair yoga. We all have different levels of physical abilities - taking the time to do what we can is what matters. A strong asana practice is caring for and listening to your body and honoring what it needs in each moment.
Here’s a secret: For decades, I could never get my heels to the floor in a malasana squat. I stretched my calves all the time and still could not do it. I figured it was something about my anatomy that prevented it. But I kept visiting malasana in my practice, heels up. And then one day, somewhat recently, my heels hit the floor. What a surprise! Delightful sure, but you know what? It hasn’t made a difference in my asana practice or in my meditation practice. I didn’t receive an award, I didn’t become enlightened, and getting my heels on the floor has definitely not slowed down the flow of thoughts in my mind. Heels to the floor is just a neutral thing that happens now.
Advanced poses require dedication, discipline, and skill - all of which are admirable qualities. May they inspire instead of intimidate us. We have a pervasive need in America to constantly be working, improving, producing (because capitalism requires this of us) to be worthy. We are likely unaware that we are bringing this mindset into our asana practice. When we remember, our yoga practice can be a radical act of simply being in a culture brimming with doing.
Connecting our breath to our bodies and movements is powerful and uplifting. Let this be enough.