Transform Through the Practice of Yoga Poses

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

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The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It's about using posture to understand and transform yourself. 

​- BKS Iyengar

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This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series.  
​Want to start at the beginning?

​Yoga Sutra 2.46
स्थिरसुखम् आसनम्
Sthira sukham āsanam
Asana is a steady and comfortable position.

You have probably heard one of us say “yoga begins off the mat.”  It becomes like a broken record.  But truly, the deeper you go into the Yoga Sutras, the more you realize how ridiculous it is that people are obsessed with asanas.  
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Don’t get me wrong, I love asana.  It was my gateway to yoga.  But I didn’t stop at asana, I now practice all eight limbs and can tell you for certain that the benefits I got from practicing the other limbs far outweighs the benefits I have received from mere asana (and I have gotten a lot of benefit from practicing yoga asana.)

However, even Patanjali only offers three measly Sutras on asana in the entire Yoga Sutras.  First up is Sutra 2.46, which is literally translated “steady comfortable asana.”  So while this Sutra is offering a definition of asana, I think it is also pointing to something more important.  2.46 is also a how to guide, which he elaborates on in the following two Sutras.

Sutra 2.47 tells us that in reducing our natural tendency for restlessness, we merge with the infinite.  It is a state of surrender to just being or Isvara Pranidhana.  BKS Iyengar says translates this Sutra to “perfection in an asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.” (159)  My teacher, Sonia Sumar, reminds us in hatha yoga classes of the “zero point” in any asana, where effort and ease are balanced and we can relax while practicing it.  “This,” she always says, “is where asana begins.”  Once we are comfortable and steady in the asana, we experience union (yoga) with the position and it becomes a meditation performed with the body.  When we surrender to just being in that pose, we touch the Universal Being we are a part of.

The final Sutra to discuss asana is 2.48, in which Patanjali says that from that, we cease to be disturbed by dualities.  It’s really quite understandable.  Before we have mastered the balance between the duality of effort and ease, it’s easy to feel disturbed by our own discomfort or instability.  Once the yoga practitioner finds balance between effort and ease, the mind, body and soul merge with the pose, becoming one with it.  From there, the practitioner can learn how to find balance and peace in their experiences with all the dualities that exist in our material world, created by the three Gunas.

​Asana is the first step to mastering the more subtle levels of ourselves through pranayama (energy regulation) and samyama (meditation).  In October, we’ll move our discussion to the practice of pranayama.

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What are your favorite asanas and why?  What are your least favorite asanas and why?  Might practicing asanas that feel less accessible to you make them more accessible?  Would taking that challenge up provide some benefit to you?  Would you be practicing the yamas and niyamas by exploring an asana that challenges you?