Why Asana?

I continue on the quest to answer to myself, why asana? if the final purpose and what really can take us into liberation is meditation, then why bother? And also, it kind of hurts.

Here are some insights I have been gathering while talking to yoga teachers, fellow students and friends in general.

We do asanas to:

  1. clear the signals around the body (nadis), help in the "flow", de-block
  2. purify the body
  3. Learn to breath throughout the uncomfortable situations, which in turn would make meditation easier
  4. go beyond our limitations
  5. realize that the mind plays tricks on us. This is especially true as the body begins to open, and we suddenly feel like we dont want to, or worst, dont need to practice anymore
  6. Look good, feel good, clear the body of diseases
  7. improve posture
  8. build stamina
  9. as a metaphore for life, the way we deal with the poses on the mat is usually surprisingly similar to how we deal life situations
Seen in this light, I understand that they are an aid to meditation, a preparation, for the actual practice that can take us further into the realms of enlightment.

2 comments:

  1. GrimmlyDecember 4, 2009 at 10:19 AM

    Mmmmm n ice to find this one, have been wondering the same thing lately. Why didn't those old yogi's just settle for lotus of a couple of prep poses. The healthy body argument only seems to take you so far, a handful of poses would be plenty for that. Recently I've settled on concentration. As you become stable and comfortable in a posture the mind can begin to wander therefore another posture is required and another, perhaps a little more challenging. I like the Idea but it's probably a mixture of all your points, why questions really have one clear cut simple answer.

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  2. ClaudiaDecember 20, 2009 at 2:32 PM

    Thanks Grimmly, yes concentration is indeed a very good one, should be added to the list... :)

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