The Third Branch of Yoga Asana Being in the Flow

by Ram

The Japanese Bridge by Claude Monet

The underlying principles of the yoga philosophy are to foster the wellbeing of an individual at the level of body and mind and to help the individual re-connect to his/her true nature. One of the yogic methods or practices to achieve this is by adopting Ashtanga yoga, the eight-fold path of self-realization. The first two steps of the eight-fold path are yama and niyama, which serve as your Do and Don’t Lists. They are the GPS of our lives, guiding us to think about ourselves and our actions, and preparing us to act toward ourselves and toward the world. Each sub-limb/sub-step of the yama and niyama is additive as they prepare you for the next higher step. Putting these principles together in the form of a daily practice helps to bring peace, joy, and understanding. Compassion and awareness grows as you bring in more positive changes. Having established the practices of yama and niyama, the individual is now ready to incorporate the third limb/step, asana which means “seat,” “settle” and, in the yoga context, “posture.” 

In the early stages of our asana practice, when we hold a pose, we are simply mastering the skills to sustain the correct posture. As our practice deepens, we blend our asana technique with energy, passion and wisdom and find ourselves fully “in” the pose. When you are engaged in a posture where the asana challenge matches your skill, you have an undivided focus and get totally involved, forgetting everything else but the activity. You are in a state of “flow,” or as Desikachar puts it, “in the zone.” While this state may seem effortless it requires a whole lot of initial effort to make the state accessible (see Positive Psychology vs. Yoga Philosophy). A challenging pose offers you the opportunity to explore and control all mental aspects, including attitudes, emotions, concentration, intent, and faith. As BKS Iyengar explains:

“It must not be just your mind or even your body that is doing the asana. You must be in it. You must do the asana with your soul.

To be in it and do the asana with your soul requires that you let go of the ego, including your body image, and find your true self. It goes back to intention, rather than outcome. Thus, the goal of asana practice is not to assume a physically perfect posture but to fully come into your version of the pose, to feel open and grounded and calm, even if it is a challenging pose. So while practicing your asanas, focus less on a macho (male) or slim body (female), and instead aim your attention on achieving stability, mobility and encouraging integration—gently coaxing all the tight muscles to move and work together. Pay close attention to connections—between one part of the body and another, between thought and action, and between breath and movement. Do not try to think or struggle your way into an asana; instead, just flow into the posture through calmness, love and devotion.

Interestingly while I was writing this article, we received this query from one of our readers:

“To me these two aspects of yoga … achieving a desirable state of physical being through asana and cultivating spiritual growth through meditation, mindfulness and intentional study of yoga tradition appear to be at odds with each other. Does the tendency to ‘use’ yoga (physically) actually impede our ability to comprehend the less tangible, more subtle and deeper spiritual aspects of yoga”?

I myself don’t find these practices at odds with each other as I am aware that the original intention of hatha yoga was to fortify the body for spiritual practices. However, in today’s world, yoga is often thought of as “asanas only”—something like a stretching tool to keep the body limber and agile. People are drawn to yoga as a way to keep fit, even though the idea behind the physical practice of yoga is to help the mind to become clear or pure and develop deeper mind-body awareness. Obviously, the constant barrage of photographs of individuals doing acrobatic poses in precarious settings or skinny young women doing fancy poses in very skimpy outfits are undoubtedly at odds with the aim of the practice. Asanas were originally developed to enable practitioners to become more flexible, stable, and grounded in order to move easily into a regulated breath practice and to develop inner focus and concentration. They were created to prepare the body and mind for going into deeper meditative states. To sit for a lengthy time in a meditative state requires a stable body and a calm mind. So unless you are free of physical distractions and achieve stability in the body, you cannot achieve mastery of senses and mind.

Notice that as we do the asanas daily and regularly, the less mechanical they become. While this happens partly because we are more knowledgeable about the placement of arms, the positioning of the feet, or the rotation of the hips, it is also due to being in zone/flow—creating a balance between our material world and spiritual experience. The idea behind the asana practice is to help the mind to become clear or pure and develop deeper mind-body awareness. A clear mind is not affected by stress and a clear mind produces a healthy body thus creating a greater connection with one's own pure, essential nature. And any individual can achieve mind-body awareness and ultimately attain enlightenment.

As B.K.S. Iyengar aptly says, “the needs of the body are the needs of the divine spirit which lives through the body. The yogi does not look heaven-ward to find God for he knows that He is within.” Do you get the same feeling or experience when you are on the mat?

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