Click “Ashtanga Yoga road” above to subscribe! We all know that most people’s yoga practice is not the original meaning of the word yoga in Sanskrit, but one of the eight branches of Yoga – asana in Sanskrit, It’s the asana of yoga.
Let me tell you something you may not know: The Classic Yoga Sutra has 196 verses, in which ASENA is mentioned (asana) – there are only three sentences of asana.
But even these three sentences are enough to lay the basic principle of asana.
Unfortunately, in most Yoga classrooms and teaching classes, this principle is ignored and forgotten by most yoga practitioners.
It is this reason that leads to the practice of yoga The display of physical ability, and it is for this reason that there are all kinds of large and small injuries in yoga practice.
Jiesong 2.46 of the Yoga Sutra says: “sthirasukhamasanam” Generally speaking, asana is stable and comfortable.
This sentence should actually be the motto of all yoga practitioners.
Without the guidance of this principle, yoga will be reduced to juggling, and more serious will cause all kinds of damage to the practitioner’s body and mind.
In fact, for a long time, I have been confused about this praise.
How can I practice and familiar with yoga asana There is no comfort, stability? Stability is OK, and stability can be achieved in many cases; but comfort? It is only comfortable when it is done.
In asana, there are all kinds of struggles, all kinds of ferocious faces, all kinds of pain, all kinds of sweat, all kinds of shaking…
Where is comfort? But with practice, especially self-learning (Classic) With the help of various expert teachers, I am beginning to feel and understand that the comfort and stability of this posture mentioned in the Yoga Sutra actually refers to a balance of energy.
This energy is not the positive energy and negative energy mentioned in the chicken soup world, but the real life vitality running in the body and the “Qi” in Chinese culture In fact, comfort and stability refer to the balance of energy and the fluency of Qi.
Most yoga postures we practice are derived from Hatha Yoga school.
Hatha refers to the balance of two extremes: HA is the sun, positive energy; THA is the moon, negative energy.
The original intention of Hatha postures practice is to balance yin and Yang in each body (male / female; strength / flexibility; reason / emotion, reason / intuition…).
If a yoga practitioner can experience such a balance of yin and Yang, a complete life will fill his body and consciousness.
At such a moment, the integrity of life itself will be connected, which is the original meaning of Yoga Sanskrit.
If we find the midline energy and clarify this principle, we can explore the energy balance inside our body.
If we can have such an experience, we can better touch the essence of yoga during asana practice.
In fact, the key is the “core”, but here is the “core” This description may not be what we think.
At the fitness and body levels, the core refers to the lower abdomen area at most.
But anatomy expert Leslie Kaminoff said: the core is not an anatomical concept.
The core is very close to the bone, and the core involves the whole body.
I can change this mysterious core to another word (so as not to be too confused with the core more people say) , I call this core “midline energy” Cultivating the awareness of midline energy can help the practitioner to be within the range of his ability in the asana during practice, but don’t go too far.
As long as the practitioner connects the body with the central energy, it means stability.
Come on, we can do an experiment to see if we can find our midline energy: stand with our feet parallel and extend our arms to both sides, On the same horizontal plane as the shoulder, extend the palms of both hands upward to both sides as far as possible until the shoulder joint begins to feel separated.
Now start to retract the arm bones back into the shoulder joint, but don’t retract the arms extending to both sides.
Just feel a retracted tension to balance the outward tension.
Feel whether you can feel the balance created by these two tensions.
This example This is to show that the dynamic energy balance is formed by the balance between an outward effort and an inward effort.
This energy balance state can be applied to all parts of the body.
A common phenomenon of losing energy balance in the body is that the lower part of the ribs is at the front top, or the tailbone and waist are arched.
In asana, you can often take care of the space between the lower ribs and the navel Shorten the distance between the ribs and the crotch.
Feel the state of standing with your feet parallel.
Put your hands on both sides of the body, your fingers on both sides of the navel, and your thumb under the ribs.
Use your hands to lift the navel line up with your fingers, and use your thumb to pull the ribs down to find this feeling.
This behavior is to reduce the distance between the ribs and the navel It can bring the tailbone to extend downward.
Find these feelings and experience the connection with the median energy line of the body.
This will create a foundation or a “container” for the asana.
On this foundation or container, the practitioner can play freely.
If you can consciously take care of the connection between the body and the central energy line in the practice, your practice will be very different.
Be our own teacher.
If we can find the subtle energy balance in our body, we can be our own better teacher.
Our practice methods will change.
Instead of unconsciously following a habit, we will explore how to awaken our body.
When this awakening is full on the yoga mat, the awakened consciousness will overflow into your life.
Today’s Sharing may not be a asana guide, but it may be a little shallow and immature.
However, these may be more important than asana strategies.
These sharing come from the study of Yoga classics and the study and experience of the impact on the body and mind of practice.
If practice can help us find the balance of body energy, we can not only avoid unnecessary physical injury, but also To improve our physical practice and bring spiritual growth at the same time.
We can more and more feel that we are not doing a few yoga poses, but exploring the principles of yoga in our own body and mind.
Just as asana’s two sentences mentioned in the Yoga Sutra: “when the body is no longer struggling and stagnant, the infinity inside the body is revealed.” “In this way, we will be liberated from the fluctuation of ideological content.” yes, it sounds so simple to feel and find the midline energy of the body, but the return is incredible.
(end of the article) wonderful Yoga line class scanning picture QR Code: click below“.
