According to Maharishi Patanjali, asana is the third limb of Raja Yoga. In his famous work, The Yoga Sutras, Patanjali gives a concise definition of asana: ‘Sthiram sukham aasanam’, meaning ‘that position which is comfortable and steady’. In this context, asanas are practised to develop the ability to sit comfortably in one position for an extended period of time, an ability necessary for mediation. Therefore in Raja Yoga, Patanjali equatesasana to the stable sitting position for meditation.
However, in Hatha Yoga it means something more. Thehatha yogis found that specific body positions open
the energy channels and psychic centres. They foundthat developing control of the body through these practices enabled them to control the mind and energy. In theHatha Yoga Pradipika, Swami Swatmarama states thatasanas are tools to higher awareness, providing the stablefoundation necessary for the exploration of the body, breath, mind and higher states and should therefore be practiced first on the path towards spiritual progress.
Asana are basically a series of physical stretchesand steady postures that have been inspired by meditation
and the close examination of nature. Asanas work onall levels; physical, mental and spiritual. The body, mind and spirit can all become steady with the practice of asana. When held for sufficient periods of time, with deep concentration and awareness, they help to direct prana (vital life-force energy) to different parts ofthe body depending on which asana is being practiced. If practised regularly the whole system can be toned and revitalised, resulting in radiant health.
Asanas exercise every part of the body, stretching and toning the muscles and joints, the spine and the
entire skeletal system, working, not only on the body’s frame, but also on the internal organs, glandsand nerves, restoring all systems to radiant health. This also allows the student to sit comfortably and relaxed for extended periods of time, promoting deeper meditation. Although many people practice asana only for physical health, they are primarily intended to prepare the body to sit in meditation, so that you can sit quietly and comfortably without pain or discomfort from the body. This allows you to focus the mind with one-pointed concentration.
A large part of the art and skill of asana, and your yoga practice in general, lies in sensing just how far to
move into a stretch. If you don’t go far enough there is no challenge to the muscles, no intensity, nostretch, and little possibility for opening. Going too far, however, is an obvious violation of the body, increasing the possibility of both physical pain and injury. Somewhere in between these two points is a degree of stretch that isin balance:
intensity without pain, use without abuse, strenuous without strain. You can experience this balance in every
asana you do.
This place in the stretch is called your “edge.” The body’s edge in yoga is the place just before pain, but
not pain itself. Pain tells you where the limits ofyour physical conditioning lie. Edges are marked by pain and
define your limits. How far you can fold forward, for example, is limited by your flexibility edge, to go any further hurts and is actually counterproductive. The lengthof your stay in an asana is determined by your endurance edge.
Your interest in an asana is a function of your attention edge. The ideal state for practicing asana is to be as willing and relaxed as possible, as non-resisting as possible, so that one part of you is not in opposition toanother.
You can then comfortably press you edges open. This practice becomes one of being relaxed and willing at your deeper edges, and this isn’t necessarily easy. It’s difficult to stay relaxed in the midst of a high-intensity stretch.
Erich Shiffmann suggests that sensing where your edges are and learning to hold the body there with
awareness, moving with its soft subtle shifts, can be called “playing the edge.” This is a large part of what you will be doing in your practice. Your skill in yoga has little to do with your degree of flexibility or where your edges happen to be. It about how sensitively you play your edges, no matter where they are.
This is a very freeing idea. Normally we have an idea of how the asana should be. We have a rough idea of
how deep we should be able to go into a stretch, what we should look like while we are there, and how long we should be able to stay. We are often more aware of where we aren’t than of we where we are. This gap produces a feeling of conflict and frustration, that where you are and who you are is insufficient, and that if you were truly doing yoga properly and were a good and evolved person, then you would be somewhere other than where you are. If this is the case, your yoga practice will be permeated with the effort of going somewhere else. It will be future orientated, the present being only a stepping stone to the future. And you will miss being present.
The main thing to understand is that there is no such thing as a completed or ideal position. Each posture
is an ever evolving, constantly moving energy phenomenon that is different form day to day, moment to moment, and person to person. The process of sensitively flirting with your edges and achieving perfect energyflow is not merely the means to achieve the pose, it is the pose. This is what the physical aspect of yoga is fundamentally all about. Your body is limited in its movement not only through its genetic makeup, but also through the conditionings that have accrued through the years. Yoga is a way of exploring these limits. Your edgesand limits will change as a by-product of this exploration, you will change.