2.46 sthira sukham asanam…

…steady and comfortable!

 

Asana… the third of the eight limbs along the Ashtanga path, a path leading towards Samadhi.

Asana… 840.000 registered, 6.000 really discovered, approximately 50 building the base.

Asana… the part, mostly picking up people nowadays, bringing them onto the mat.

 

But what are they really about, these often crazy, super-flexible looking poses? Usually, the more extraordinary they appear, the more they attract students. But it’s not about performance; the Yoga mat is not a stage, a place to feed the ego. It is meant as a place for connection, a connection between your body and mind, a bridge to get deeper into your body, to read and understand its signals, to get full body awareness on the long path to finally sit still.

 

Sitting still, the word “asana” actually means “take a seat here”. Sitting still, forgetting about the body, meditating… observing your thoughts and finally becoming free of them. Sitting still, not so easy as it sounds! An itch here, a moving disturbing hair there, a pain here a sleeping leg there. The body needs to be prepared, needs to get strong, healthy, flexible and clean. Asanas are perfect for that! They clean our nadis (energy channels), they strengthen our muscles but also our willpower and our self-confidence. They help us to focus, to turn our senses inward and they may bring us to physical limits and finally prove, that we can go far beyond those limits, those limits in our heads.

 

Asana… moving meditation.

Asana… powerful and at the same time a loving way to bring body and mind together.

Asana… flowing and dancing towards finally sitting still.

 

And always remember…

Don’t use your body to get into the pose, use the pose to get into your body.

 

(Angelika)