Asana, the third of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yogic practice, has a role in Yoga that needs to be understood. Let’s now see how the physical steadiness of Asana helps us to create inner steadiness, and how the yogic science of Asana is also helping people worldwide to maintain health and well-being.

This third limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga is probably the most popular and also the least well understood today. When we think of Asanas, many of us will visualise Hatha Yoga exercises at the local gym or yoga studio, but there is much more to understand about Asanas than this. The word Asana comes from the Sanskrit root as, which means ‘to sit’: the original Asana was the sitting pose for meditation. The purpose of Yoga has always been union or oneness with the infinite, so the main focus in yogic practice is meditation, and through meditation, union. It is in this context that Patanjali defined and described Asana in the following three Sutras:

Sthira sukham asanam: Sthira means steady, stable; sukham means comfortable, relaxed; asanam means posture or sitting position. So, that sitting position which is steady and comfortable is Asana.

Prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam: Prayatna means tension or effort; shaithilya means relaxing or loosening; ananta means infinite, endless; samapattibhyam means bringing the attention to and merging with. So, Asana comes through relaxing efforts and allowing consciousness to merge with the infinite.

Tatah dwandwa anabhighata: Tatah means thus; dwandwa means the dualities or pairs of opposites, such as light and dark, right and wrong; anabhighata means without impact or freedom from suffering. So, through Asana we become free from the impact of the dualities of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, etc.

When we summarise what Patanjali said about Asana, it is this: find a steady and comfortable sitting posture, so that you can relax your efforts and allow your consciousness to merge with the infinite, and you will become free from the impact of the dualities of existence. This is the purpose of Asana.

Swami Vivekananda explained the role of Asana further: in order to meditate every day, find a posture in which you can remain for a long time. It should be an easy posture, and it need not be the same for everyone. What matters is that it should allow the flow of energies through the system. In his book, Raja Yoga, Swamiji described how a good deal of activity goes on in the body when we meditate. “Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibrations will begin, and the whole constitution will be remodeled, as it were. But the main part of the activity will lie along the spinal column, so that the one thing necessary for the posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts – the chest, neck and head – in a straight line. Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have an easy natural posture with the spine straight.” This may be the first ever description of neuroplasticity arising out of meditation.

Swamiji described the process of neuroplasticity not only in the brain, but in the central nervous system, and especially the spinal cord from the chest up to the head and brain, the regions encompassing the chakras of the Heart and Mind. Swamiji also guided us on how to maintain this alignment of the spinal column and the brain: “Say to yourself that you are firmly seated, and that nothing can move you. Then mention the perfection of the body, bit by bit, from head to foot. Think of it as being clear as crystal, and as a perfect vessel to sail over the sea of life.”

The main thing is to leave the body free, holding the chest, shoulders and head straight, so that you do not feel the body at all. When you go beyond the physical, you will lose all sense of the body, pleasure and pain. Afterwards you will feel so rested. It is the most perfect rest you can give the body. The best postures for meditation are thought to be the cross-legged postures, such as Siddhasana, with both hands resting on the thighs, and Padmasana, the lotus position.

To be continued…