What is
Asana
for?
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras from two thousand years ago
mention asana as a sitting place for meditation as
were described in earlier texts. That aside we know
from Buddhist writings and from the Greeks of
Indian ascetics practising physical movement and
stillness practices. So the principle of a movement
and stillness in physical practice has been around for
over two and a half thousand years.
The more recent medieval texts such as the Hatha
Yoga Pradipika, Gherandha Samhita and Shiva
Samhita place asana in a key position in yogic
practice with the aim of creating wellbeing and
facilitating meditative practice. Hemachandra’s
Yogasastra really takes the practice of asana out
of just being a monastic practice into the hands
of the householder, into the hands of us as the
continuation of the line of practitioners that have
inherited yoga through Swami Shivananda, through
Krishnamacharya, through Sri Aurobindo and all the
other teachers who have let loose the power of yoga
into the modern global world.
The HYP says
“Whether young, old or very old,
sick or feeble, one can attain
perfection in all the Yogas by
practising.”
It lists practical, physical benefits to the practice
of the asanas. When we look at books like Asana,
Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha by the Bihar school we
find relentless benefits that are attested, usually with
very little scientific back up.
Patanjali states that asana, properly cultivated, leads to
“relaxation of the tensions of
separation and expansion into
the infinite.”
So why do we practise asana today?
To feel good, strong and flexible has to be important,
as that is why many of us practice.
Second to this has to be that it gives us a real sense
of freedom.
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