Yoga is Your Journey On The Asana (Mat)

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. ~ B.K.S. Iyengar

Hatha yoga is the most practiced form of yoga in modern times, asana is the very core of yoga also called as posture or pose, and it is one of the eight limbs of classical yoga. Yoga asanas are always believed to be performed on asana or a place to sit wherein the energy flows through our body continuously without being earthed away, thus mat or (dari) becomes a very personal space for performing various postures (asanas).

In the Vedic lore, the asana which was practiced  the most was that of meditation and it was carried out only in one position i.e deep-seated position with the straight spine, focusing only on breathing,( Holding one’s breath is mastered by many sages and seers and is believed to be the toughest practice to adapt. However, as yoga evolved, so did the asanas and with the practice of asanas came the benefits of yoga, yoga is believed to open various chakras (psychic centers) and Nadis (energy channels) in the body thus allowing the felicitous flow of energy through them bringing the body into balance and eliminating the scope of stress related diseases.

Yoga is just not limited to asanas, its yamas, niyamas, mudras, asanas and meditation techniques, all of the above-mentioned practices form the very backbone of yoga. In this blog post, we will only talk about asanas and a good posture/pose is exercised with a deep understanding of our breathing, deep and focused breathing is the very essence of practicing asana.

As explained by Lord Shiva in the ancient texts, there are 84 basic poses out which only 32 can be performed by human beings; however, there are sages who delve in the lap of Himalayas and are known to perform asanas not witnessed to be practiced by a normal human being.

With the evolution of Yoga, many gurus start teaching various asanas and they are believed to be from the same set of postures but with different names. In our next blog post, we will talk in detail about the various asanas and their effect on our bodies.