Asana

What do we understand by this? Modern usage of this word infers one of the many familiar Yoga 'postures'. However, the Sanskrit word asana literally means 'seat'. It is that which you sit on...your seat. For thousands of years this is exactly what an asana was. It was a strong, steady, comfortable seated position. This is what an asnana was for Patanjali 2500 years ago. In his Yoga Sutras Patanjali states...Sutra 46, Sadhana Pada. Sthira (steady) Sukham (comfortable) Asanam (posture for meditation). This literally means: a seated posture (for meditation) that is steady and comfortable is called Asana. In Patanjalis Yoga Sutras, Asanas only have four major references. Asana is also only the third limb of his Ashtanga Yoga.

If we look at the Bhagavad Gita we will find that the term Asana does not appear very often and when it does it is meant to mean 'the place where one sits for spiritual practise.' The Bhagavad Gita is often called the textbook of Yoga and yet the only major emphasis on Asana are found in Chapter six, The Yoga of Meditation. Verse 11 states "in a clean spot, having established a firm seat (Asana) of his own, neither too high nor too low, made of cloth, a skin and Kusa grass, one over the other..." In verse 12 he goes on to say "There, having made the mind one-pointed, with the actions of the mind and the senses controlled, let him seated on the seat (Asana), practise Yoga for the purification of the self.

In many of the Yoga Scriptures the asana is a seated posture, one that is help with ease so that you can comfortably practise the higher aspects of Yoga. Padma Asana, Siddha Asana, Vira Asana and Swastika Asana are a few mentionned. This was what was meant by the term 'Asana' for thousands of years. Different Yoga positions were developed 1000-1500 years ago, but most of the large numbers of postures that we are familiar with today were developed 100-200 years ago. Modern mans body is weak due to bad habits and so he needs these postures to make the body strong. Long ago when man worked the land he did not need these postures, but man no longer works in this way. He drives to work, uses a computer and then spends the evening in a sofa!

Modern man has become hung up in his body, he is pre-occupied with it seeing it as a be all and end all. Will Asanas make you slim, good in bed, get rid of cancer etc? Everything has to have a material value. This never was the aim of Yoga. We should practise the physical aspect of Yoga to make our body strong and healthy out of a duty to ourselves and our livelyhood. In Yoga the aim is to transcend the body, not to get pre-occupied with it. We should only be concerned with making it strong so that we can transcend it and concentrate on higher practices called Raja Yoga or Antaranga Yoga.

Asana also has a useful part to play in evolution. Since it implies that we are to hold a position strong and steady, it in turn has a powerful effect on the mind. By training the body to be still, we are also training the mind to be still, or at the very least we are slowing the mind down so that it eventually can be controlled. As well as this, Asanas have a positive effect on our will-power and self-discipline in a way that nothing else does. Our emotions are also affected by our Asana practise. By changing our body we also change our emotional and mental make-up resulting in a complete over-haul and a refining of our integrated system.