Eight Limbs Of Yoga- 3 Asana

The practice of asanas is the aspect of yoga that has become synonymous with what yoga is. As we can see it is but one face of the jewel of yoga.

To begin understanding asanas as something more than an ancient health and fitness exercise system, let us look at the meaning of ‘yoga’. The Sanskrit root of the word yoga is ‘yuj’ meaning to join, bind, yoke, at a deeper level it means union. We can say then that it is a process of joining to create unity.

So the question is now, join what to create what union? Yoga is a spiritual science and it’s purpose is to facilitate the joining of the fractured human nature, so as to realise our true state of union with the  Divine.

Asanas then are the body postures that we know commonly know as yoga. The science of yoga understands the inter-related dimensions of our humanness. The body, mind and emotions are all inter-connected. As such what occurs in

one effects the others. Asanas are one means of facilitating a unity between body mind and emotion that allows deepening integration of the experience of spirit.

In the Niyama of sauca we spoke about yoga as a system of purification. I’d like here to make the connection between purification and the process of unifying, so that purification can broadly mean the process of joining together what is separate. Within this process are multiple dimensions of purification at physical, mental and emotional and subtle levels. Because of our holistic nature each level can be found through each other level. The body in asana then becomes the site of this process.

When we perform asanas we create a process of ‘opening’ the body. This opening allows flows of blood, lymph and subtler energies of prana and awareness. It is this awareness aspect that makes asana a spiritual practice and not just exercise.

At the physical level the increased flows of blood and lymph increases the health and vitality of the bodies cells. At subtler levels the same opening and increase of flow occurs in the movement of prana in the nadis. The nadis are the subtle energy channels, similar to the meridians in far eastern systems. Prana is the subtle energy similar to chi in the far eastern systems. The flow of subtle energy in the nadis allows purification at this subtler level, purification occurring where the flow has stagnated.

The body is the site of the subconscious, meaning it stores or holds the subconscious. In asana we open the body to allow awareness to travel into the subconscious to bring into the light conscious awareness of what is there. It is in the subconscious that what in us is fractured is held, as well as the why; at deeper levels is also the means of re-joining. In this subconscious state of fracture are the feelings, emotions and beliefs that formed and maintain the fractured state. Making them conscious then allows their healing.

It is my personal view that the process of re-joining is a process of healing. As such the spiritual process of yoga is a healing of the fractured into re-joined unity or lived union with the Divine. Asana as spiritual practise is an integral part of this process on the yogic tradition.

In a future article i will explore the relationship between asana and the other seven limbs.

Let us look at the yamas and niyamas to see how awareness in asana is applied. The principle of ahimsa shows that asana practice is done without violence towards ourselves. The principle of satya indicates the need for truthfulness with ourselves in our asana practice. The principle of asteya in asana can be the requirement of balance between the two sides of our body, that one part is not taking from another.

Eight Limbs of Yoga 4 Pranayama

Eight Limbs of Yoga 2 Niyamas

“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more 

Stumble This Post

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Scroll Down to leave a Comment

Technorati Tags: 8 Limbs of Yoga, Yoga Asana, Yoga Philosophy

Related posts:

1. The Paths Of Yoga Explained Primarily there are four paths of Yoga, they are:...