Take A Seat

Asana - Easeful Seat

Isn't it interesting to think that the physical practice of yoga falls after the inner work and the outward observances when studying the Yoga Sutras.

Many yogis come to the practice because of the health benefits promised through movement. A quick google search will show thousands of articles on the benefits of flexibility, how yoga relieves stress, aids sleep and build muscle. It's no wonder it's a multi-billion dollar industry!

I found yoga myself as a way to combat the aches and pains I had through hours spent at CrossFit, it was the balance my body didn't know it needed. My practice continued this way for many years, as a purely physical practice, until I found the yoga studio I enrolled in to do my teachers training. It was at that studio my relationship with yoga evolved into what I still search for and am drawn towards today.

In Patanjali's yoga sutras he only mentions asana once ''sthira sukham asanam'' which can be roughly translated to ''create unshakeable ease through posture''. Sthira is steadiness and sukha is ease.

It begs the question - if the practice of asana is to create unshakeable ease, why are complex gymnastic moves and strength-based workouts considered ‘‘yoga’’? If your breath leaves your body due to strain is that still ease?

One of my favourite ways of exploring sthira and sukha is through balance. When we explore postures of balance on the mat, we connect to the feeling of the earth beneath our bodies to instil the sense of grounding and being unshakeable. In contrast, the remainder of the body flows free, light, fluid. Somewhere amid the concentration on the posture, must exist a space for the light to get through. Without it, the posture crumbles. If we focus so hard we lose our breath and with that lose our ease.

Years ago I taught a yoga class in a well-known studio in Auckland. It was a full class, I mean FULL - over 90 people. One shape we experimented with was a high lunge, with the chest resting on the knee arms out to the side. One of the gentlemen in the front row lost balance and if he did, he sent the entire front row toppling over, like dominos, until I was left with about 20 humans on a heap on the floor.

Steadiness was gone. In its place was ease…. and a lot of laughter.

I think of this scenario so often, especially when people concentrate really hard in certain shapes to hold them and get frustrated when they fall out. Or, when I myself get forceful with a certain posture; wanting to control the outcome. I think back to the gentleman that took a wobble with a smile in my heart. Sometimes it's not just ease and steadiness in ourselves that can impact our practice, but sometimes what somebody else brings to the mat too!

What Patanjali is asking of us in this Sutra is to examine the posture for what it is - focused and sturdy while remaining easeful. Opposites do not need to be mutually exclusive.

In my own practice, Uttanasana or forward fold is where I see this Sutra show up most profoundly. Some days I fold with ease. Other days I get stuck in a half-lift.

Sthira shows up when I lose patience with myself and my mind becomes a stream of frustration and negativity. I lose stability.

Suhka shows up when ease leaves my body and I try force my chest to my knees. Ease leaves my body.

In reality, balance off the mat is almost impossible to achieve. Life doesn’t work like that. As much as we would like to section it out, it is full of complexities and challenges. Yin and Yang are two sides of one coin, one cannot exist without the other.

So, instead of searching for the unachievable balance, what would happen if you invited in harmony? Instead of striving for exclusive yin or exclusive yang, what if there was a space where both could co-exist minute by minute?

Oftentimes we operate at 10/10 - full steam ahead. We are all in, we are here to get sh!t done, we have goals to achieve and the world best be ready. But, when we are so focused on Sthira, we lose contact with Suhka. We can't be forceful and easeful at the same time. What if we kept cool, retained stability and with ease found ourselves balanced and giving a solid 5/10. Not losing sight of our peace, remaining strong yet fluid? Grounded and fun. Yin and yang.

While there is the risk of overwork in a yang world, there is the risk of becoming stagnant in a yin environment. Yin is passive, draws inward can become reclusive. Especially during lockdown, we can become super comfortable not doing anything with our bodies or our minds, crippled by inaction, withdrawing from others and keeping a cluttered environment. How can you fuel the yang within?

If we stay too much in one state over another, the Universe has a way of tapping us on the shoulder and waking us up. Did you ever go so hard for months (yang) that you got sick and were confined to bed (yin).

Yet there is a wonderful opportunity for self-awareness around this concept and a thorough examination of how it shows up for you.

On your mat

Adapting practice to your day

If your day has been yin with lots of sitting, then a yang class may be what you need to restore balance. Similarly, if your day has been chaotic, then softening into a restorative yin practice may be perfect.

Just like life can't be all yang, life can't be all yin.

Finding space

Perhaps it's a softening of the gaze, a release of the fist, a full breath, a drop of the shoulders. It may be the concentration required to obtain meditation or the exploration of your edges in pigeon shape that's calling your yang energy.

Meeting yourself where you are

Like my example above with Uttanasana, practice shows up different every day. When you notice this happening, remember sthira & sukha. Go to a 5/10.

Subtle energy

B R E A T H

In times of yang, witness the spaces between an inhale and an exhale. The slow inhale, the slow exhale. The expansive breath. In times of yin, change the rhythm of breath by taking one big breath in a stream of slow steady breath.

Meditation

Sometimes our mind doesn't stop (sthira). Sometimes we fall asleep (sukha). There is a balance between these two extremes. Observe, sit, observe, sit.

What do ease and steadiness look like for you this week?

In love, always in love,

Leonie Xx