The Heart of the Yoga Practice and the Purpose of the Asana

Yoga was created thousands of years ago as a form of meditation and liberation. Traditionally, there are eight limbs to the Yoga practice and the asana, or Yoga postures, are just one of those eight limbs. With the commercialization of Yoga and the modern emphasis on the physical aspect, the origional intention and the philosophies of the practice have been overshadowed.

Consequently, many modern practitioners enter the yoga practice from a physical standpoint. That is why, as students and teachers of the practice, it is important for us to share every aspect of yoga, and how they physical practice aids us both on and off our mat.

What are the Yoga Asanas?

The yoga asanas are the postures we move into when we practice the physical aspect of Yoga. These postures range from simple seated postures to standing, balancing, and inversions. While each yoga posture has its own benefits for the physical body, the purpose of the posture is more complex. It is easy to assume advanced yogis practice advanced postures, however, the level of Asana has little to do with the level of the practitioner.

While there are many postures in the Yoga practice, we do not need to master them all in order to reach a state of liberation. We actually never truly master the postures anyway. While a posture might look perfect on the outside, the inner experience of the practitioner is most likely much different.

At this point, you might be wondering why we even practice the Asana if the yoga poses aren’t the main purpose of the practice. It’s true that the postures do not make up the entire practice of Yoga but they do play an important role.

Moving out of the Mind and into the Body

One of the main reasons we practice the Yoga postures is so we can build a relationship with our body. Our bodies are incredible vessels that carry us through this life and often go underappreciated. Each posture in the Yoga practice requires a certain level of concentration. In order for us to safely and effectively move into a pose, such as triangle, we need to understand the muscular engagements that hold our body up while simultaneously recognizing the areas in the body we need to soften.

This level of concentration takes us out of our mind and into the body. The acute muscular engagements act as a focal point for the mind, drawing our awareness into the present moment. We start to understand our body and it’s relationship to space, and our thoughts about everything else starts to dwindle away.

Naturally, we get distracted and think about other things, but when we do that our body will start to lose its integrity and fall out of the pose. Have you ever been distracted while trying to balance in tree pose? If so you know it doesn’t end well. Building this level of concentration and awareness while we move in and out of postures, helps us stay focused when we sit in meditation.

Letting Go and Creating Space

Additionally, our bodies hold onto our past experiences and share the stories of our lives. These experiences, whether we consider them good or bad, manifest in the body as physical and emotional tension. If our experience made a large impression on our being, it can even manifest into injury and illness.

The yoga postures help us to remove these blockages in both the body and mind. The anatomy of the yoga postures helps align the bones and muscles of the body in order to break away tension and create space. When we do so, we allow for energy, blood, and oxygen to move throughout the body in an efficient manner. Not only does this aid in the longevity of our vital organs, but it can also aid in healing certain ailments.

For example, twisted postures help us ring out our digestive organs and detoxify any stale, undigested food from the body. Twists not only massage the digestive organs but they also massage our reproductive organs and can be used to ease pains from menstrual cramps. The Yoga postures do not just heal our physical body though, they can also heal our emotional body.

Certain postures such as pigeon or wheel pose can tap into our body’s emotional center. If you have ever moved into a pose and felt anger, fear, sadness or anxiety, that means the practice of the postures is working! When we feel these emotions but choose to stay in the pose and breathe through them, we are choosing to acknowledge our emotions without letting them rule our experience. By focusing on the breath we can calm our mind even in the most difficult poses. This allows us the space needed to process our feelings and move forward.

Preparing For Meditation

Finally, the yoga postures help us focus our energy so we can sit in meditation. First, we bring our awareness down into the body. We physically work so we can strengthen the back muscles and soften our hips allowing us to sit comfortably. We move through these poses to break up the physical and emotional tension. By doing so we have an easier time practicing our meditation.

Meditation is the heart of the Yoga practice. The Asana can be utilized as a moving meditation but should not replace meditation entirely. Moving and focusing is much different than being content with stillness. However, our moving meditation  aids us in the progression of our seated meditation.

When we sit and meditate, especially after an intense asana practice, we find a state of awareness. We are able to let go of the distractions in the mind and simply be and breathe in the present moment. By meditating, we start to peel away the layers of the ego and find our true state of being. The more we meditate the deeper we dive into our true nature and out of our egotistical state. This allows us to feel and understand our connection with the world and those around us. This is what the practice of Yoga is all about!

Keep Practicing

So continue to practice your postures, and share your pictures on social media. Just don’t forget to share your experiences on and off the mat as well. When we are open and authentic about our Yoga practice we start to build that connection. Creating connection whether it’s one on one, in a Yoga class, or on social media, helps aid us in our journey as Yoga practitioners.

Love and light,

Sarah