by Darren Main
In our fast paced world, what most of us need to do more than anything else is to ‘sit’. We rush from activity to activity and never quiet down long enough to realize that we are only rushing to our death. Learning to sit still is paramount if we ever hope to realize our true nature as spiritual beings.
I highly recommend a thorough study of the various poses, but their details are something best learned in a class taught by a qualified teacher. There are also many excellent books that cover the poses from the viewpoint of the major hatha yoga traditions. Rather than focus this chapter on the specifics of each pose, I would like to explore some of the poses’ spiritual and psychological aspects and discuss some ways in which one can take the poses to a new level.
If hatha yoga were nothing more than an exercise, I don’t think it would have survived as long as it has. Indeed, the asanas are associated with profound physical benefits, but they are so much more. When you practice and breathe into them, the poses change you. Sometimes the changes are subtle, but most often they are immediate and tangible.
When I first started taking yoga, a woman who had a perfect body was frequently in class. She could bend her body into all sorts of shapes with ease and she never seemed to struggle. I remember thinking, “Wow, she must be so evolved.” But as I got to know her a bit more, I realized that she was emotionally unstable and not very nice. While she was flexible in her body, the more important aspects of her life were in shambles.
Therefore, I feel it is important to note one thing before moving forward. Enlightenment and inner peace are the natural result of doing yoga. However, it is important to realize that just because a person can contort his or her body into a number of complex and difficult poses, this doesn’t mean he or she is more spiritual. Likewise, if a person has difficulty executing even the basic poses, this doesn’t make that person less spiritual.
It’s the practice of moving into, holding, and releasing from the various poses that clears the mind and trains us to respond to life in a more centered fashion. Therefore, try not to focus on the poses that you can’t do well, but rather on the fact that you keep returning to your practice. That is all you need to do.
As I mentioned above, the word Asana translates to “sit.” This is very significant when we consider the poses because it has a direct effect on the rest of the eight limbs. When you look at the whole of your life, you will probably see a very clear pattern. In every aspect of your life, you have probably tried to avoid the uncomfortable as much as possible. Unfortunately this pattern, which may seem totally justified, is the root of unmitigated suffering in your life.
Like the humming bird that flits from flower to flower, our egos would have us dart from one thing to the next. It is like digging a well and moving each time you take a shovel fill of dirt. Rather than dig a deep hole that yields water, you wind up with a yard that resembles Swiss cheese. When we practice asana, we sit, or hold the poses on life’s yoga mat. In doing this we are able to go deeper into the experience of life and truly grow and heal.
This is why marriage can be such a powerful tool in relationships. When two people get married, they commit to sticking it out, no matter what. The easy thing to do is to bail when things heat up, but in marriage you commit to sitting it out and working through difficulties to the freedom that those challenges obscure. When you sit rather than walking away, growth happens.
The same is true for everything in life. By learning to practice asana, by learning to sit with the discomfort you find in various yoga poses, you learn to do the same in life. That is why asana, whether practiced in a flowing sequence or in a more gentle restorative way, frequently has a profound and transformative effect that reaches far beyond the yoga mat.
Asana as a Metaphor
[Asanas] give steadiness, health and lightness of body.
—Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1:17
Last fall I led my annual yoga retreat to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. One of the participants, Peter, had been married to his high school sweetheart for nearly twenty years. They had several children together, the youngest of whom had gone off to college just two months before.
His marriage was not violent or abusive, but he was no longer in love. His wife had confessed to having had an affair several years earlier, yet he hadn’t sought a divorce. Even though he stayed in the relationship, he had stopped trusting her. He held onto their frail marriage out of fear. One afternoon, while sitting on one of the giant boulders near our campsite, Peter spoke with me about his marriage, “I don’t know if it’s the fear of being alone, or the fear of trying to find a new partner,” he said. “I just feel like I’m going to fall apart every time I think about leaving her. I don’t trust her or love her any more, but the thought of being alone feels like someone’s kicking my legs out from under me.”
Several days later, during one of our afternoon practices, Peter felt something shift. He was holding the warrior pose, and struggling very much with it. It had never been an easy pose for him and he usually left the pose before the rest of the group. On this day, however, he stayed with it. He deepened his breath and allowed his body to shake and tremble. He later told me, “I was afraid of the intense sensations that were coming up; I felt like I was going to throw up, but I was tired of this pose ruining my yoga practice. I wanted to know what it was like to come to a class and not be thinking about the dreaded warrior pose before I even had my shoes off.”
“I stuck it out, and I did it. I thought I would die, but I didn’t. I couldn’t stop smiling through the rest of the class. When I was in deep relaxation, I decided that I want to do this with everything in my life. And I’m going to start with my marriage.”
Peter went home and spoke with his wife. He had intended to ask her for a divorce, but when they got to talking, they decided to try and make a go of things. They started going to couples counseling and eventually started taking yoga together. The last time I spoke with Peter, he and his wife were going to a couples retreat at the Kripalu Yoga Center in Massachusetts.
While Peter’s marriage may be unique, his experience with yoga is not. Many people come to yoga to heal a bad back or to gain more flexibility, but quickly realize that what has changed is their whole way of dealing with life. They find that the entirety of their lives is changed by the seemingly unrelated practice of yoga poses and breathing.
Our minds are very habit oriented. Our mental response to the events in our life doesn’t change much. As much as we would like to think that in each situation our reactions are unique, they are only reactions. External circumstances will change, but our minds tend to run the same recording over and over, making only the slightest changes to fit a given circumstance.
When we enter into a yoga pose, we intentionally put ourselves in an uncomfortable position. We then have a choice. We can respond to the pose in the same way we respond to every other uncomfortable situation in life, or we can apply the principles of yoga to it.
For example, take triangle pose (trikonasana). Most people find the pose at least a bit challenging, and some find it extremely difficult. In either case, you can come into the pose and notice your mind start to churn—thinking about the next pose, or calling this pose all sorts of names. You may even start to compare your pose to those of other people in the room. There are a whole variety of things your mind can do.
Then you hear the teacher reminding you to breathe deeply into the pose. As you do this, you find the drama of the mind begin to quiet. Perhaps it won’t shut down completely but it will settle down a bit. Gradually you find that the pose becomes less painful. The same amount of physical sensation is there, but the suffering that the mind creates has been lessened.
In addition, you can now look at the pose from a more centered place. You can start to explore the pose and notice ways to deepen or modify it. Many times when we are in a pose, the mind’s chatter hides the important messages that the body is trying to tell us. By breathing into the pose we can hear these messa
ges and act accordingly.
When I lived in Providence, Rhode Island, I was part of a meditation group. We were all very close and came together for many reasons that in the beginning were unclear. One of the other members of the group was a man named Jimmy who was wise way beyond his twenty-three years. Jimmy had been practicing yoga and meditation for several years when I met him. He had a great sense of humor and was more committed to meditation than just about anyone I had ever met. He had a strong incentive. There was a rare tumor developing in his spine, and nothing seemed to help. As it grew, it would move up his spinal cord, putting pressure on various nerves and causing pain and paralysis. He was told that eventually this tumor would take his life.
He fought however, and did everything he could to keep his body strong and his mind sharp. After one of our groups, I mentioned an article that I had just read about figs. According to this article, some scientists in Japan were using an extract from figs to treat various tumors and were having some success. Jimmy smiled. It turned out that he had been craving figs for weeks. His mother had been buying bags of them but couldn’t seem to keep enough in the house. His body had known what it needed, and Jimmy was able to keep his mind quiet enough to listen.
Our asana practice teaches us to do the same thing. Life is like a sticky mat; each circumstance in which we find ourselves is like a pose. Some poses are hard to hold; others are pleasant. But it is how we hold the pose that determines whether or not we will suffer or grow, and whether or not we will listen to the drama of the ego or the wisdom of our Spirit.
In my talks, I frequently use the example of sitting in traffic. There are few experiences in our modern world that can push me into insanity like a traffic jam. As my yoga practice deepened, I noticed that my reactions in traffic were much more centered, not to mention more polite.
There was a time when I would use my middle finger at least as much as the clutch while I was driving. Now I have turned traffic into a conscious practice. As my body and mind become uncomfortable, I deepen my breath and smile. Sometimes I will even turn off the radio and chant for a while, or repeat my mantra silently to myself. This does not change the external circumstances; I still sit in traffic until it starts to move, but my body and mind are at peace.
This same principle works for all of life’s poses. Try it the next time you are having trouble with a boss or family member, or the next time you are butting heads with your romantic partner. Breathe and relax. Acknowledge that it may be uncomfortable, but try not to engage your mind in the drama. Be open to the possibility that you could hold this uncomfortable pose, be at peace, and learn something.
This is why working with the yoga poses on the yoga mat is a practice. The work we do on the yoga mat is the rehearsal. The work we do on the mat of life is the great performance. And when we give a command performance, life seems to give us everything we need to find the peace we’re longing for.
Asana and Evolution
Those who aspire to the state of yoga should seek the Self in inner solitude through meditation. With the body and mind controlled they should constantly practice one-pointedness, free from expectations and attachments to material possessions.
—Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6:10
Spiritual evolution is what living the contemplative life is all about. Whether you practice yoga or some other form of mysticism, the ultimate purpose is the evolution of consciousness. The practice of yoga is deeply concerned with our spiritual evolution because through it we find liberation from our suffering.
In his best selling book, The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck had this to say about spiritual evolution:
Again and again I have emphasized that the process of spiritual growth is an effortful and difficult one. This is because it is conducted against a natural resistance, against a natural inclination to keep things the way they were, to cling to the old maps and old ways of doing things, to take the easy path. . . . As in the case of physical evolution, the miracle is that this resistance is overcome. We do grow. Despite all that resists the process, we do become better human beings. Not all of us. Not easily. But in significant numbers humans somehow manage to improve themselves and their cultures. There is a force that somehow pushes us to choose the more difficult path whereby we can transcend the mire and muck into which we are so often born. [12]
This is one of the key reasons why we develop an asana practice. Our natural inclination is to take the easy path. When we enter into a pose, there is a natural resistance to it. Let’s face it, most yoga poses are not the most comfortable. We find ourselves twisted into some pretty odd shapes. When we find a great deal of resistance to the poses, it’s tempting to want to check out and let the mind wander. And yet, when we step forward and keep breathing into the pose, we find liberation from the fear that once held us back.
It takes tremendous courage to move past the edge of our comfort and step boldly to the edge of what we know and feel comfortable with. Evolution happens when we move beyond our comfort level and explore new territory.
Can you imagine how courageous it must have been for that first fish to hop out of the ocean onto dry land? Of course evolution didn’t happen quite that quickly, but there is a nice analogy here. Making that leap from familiar surroundings in the ocean to the complete unknown of dry land is bad enough, but it is doubtful that any of the other fish lent much support, which is perhaps worse.
This is what our lives are like in so many ways. The old way doesn’t work, but the new way is completely unknown. So we can sit and suffer, or we can take that step onto dry land. We can listen to the naysayers in our lives, or we can trust that tiny voice that says, “Jump – I will catch you and lift you to higher ground.”
Several years ago, a woman named Janet came into my class. She had just completed Yoga 101, and was getting started in this new way of life. As we practiced, I could see the difficulty she was having with the poses. In the beginning, most find the practice difficult, but Janet seemed to find it especially trying.
She rested in “child pose” (balasana) [A basic resting posture] through much of the practice, and when doing a pose she had a pained expression on her face. I knew that yoga would be good for her, but wasn’t sure if she would stick it out. I intended to check in with her after class, but she left in a hurry and I didn’t have a chance. I thought for sure she had had a terrible time and that I would never see her again.
Janet surprised me, however, and continued. She struggled for the first few months of her practice, but in time things seemed to get a bit easier for her. However, there were always a few poses that she would avoid. The wheel (cakrasana) was one such. During each class, when it came time to do this pose, she would just sit and watch everyone else, not even giving it a shot. Just watching others do the pose seemed to bring up fear.
Then, one day when I least expected it, she called me over and asked me if I could help her. I could see that she was very nervous and didn’t think she could do it, but she had a willingness to try.
I showed her how to use the wall and a few blocks to support the pose and make pushing up a bit easier. She struggled and almost gave up, but I reminded her to breathe and put my hands under her shoulders for added support. She pushed up and lifted her head several inches off the floor and then slowly lowered down.
I don’t think I have ever seen someone so happy or so empowered. She was glowing. She may not have done the pose perfectly, but she did break through that fear. For the longest time she was like that fish that swam around the edge, wanting to leap out into a new level but afraid to do so. On that day, she did it.
This, of course, translates into life. There are so many areas of our life where we feel stuck and paralyzed by fear. The old way has got to go, but the new way is too fearful and unknown. Asana teaches us that this is natural and shows us how to make that leap.
There was a time when a woman’s right to vote was thought a radical notion, and the idea of slavery was accepted by most. The people who led
the march toward change were a lot like Janet. I can’t imagine that Abraham Lincoln looked forward to the difficult time that he knew would follow on the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and I can’t believe that Lucy Stone relished the idea of being called names and regarded as anti-feminine by many women of her day. Janet, Abraham Lincoln, and Lucy Stone saw something that they wanted and, when the time was right, they pushed through their fears and did it. [In 1866 Lucy Stone, with the help of many other women including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony helped establish the American Equal Rights Association and fought for the equality and civil rights of women in the United States.]
Our asana practice is the trial run. If you can work through your fear of the handstand, then it will be that much easier to find the courage to leave your secure job for the occupation that will be really satisfying. This is how we prepare for evolution.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva
You are the creator and destroyer and our protector. You shine as the sun in the sky; you are the source of all light.
— Prashna Upanishad 2:9