“Without firm foundations a house cannot stand. Without the practice of the principles of yama and niyama (social and self discipline), which lay down firm foundations for building character, there cannot be an integrated personality. Practice of asanas without the backing of yama and niyama is mere acrobatics.”
- B.K.S. Iyengar, the 1st Requisites of Yogasanas, Light on Yoga

Finding balance in sari. Tamil Nadu, December 2007

While we were out for a drive the other day, my mother mentioned that her physical therapist friend has been treating a rising number of patients with yoga related injuries. This brought to mind something a very wise teacher of mine once said. It was something along the lines of, “Yoga has and can never hurt me. I have only hurt myself by misusing (misunderstanding) yoga.”

Our culture can nurture an air competitiveness that sometimes drifts into unnecessary places. It can float off the streets and into yoga studios. Yoga is, has, and should never be about group competition, but instead about understanding, caring for, and enhancing the mind-body connection on an individual level. In many ways, there is no such thing as an advanced or basic posture. As H. David Coulter states in his book The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, “Practicing with total attention within the body is advanced yoga, no matter how easy the posture; practicing with your attention scattered is the practice of a beginner, no matter how difficult the posture.” The more I progress in my study of yoga, the more wonderfully complex the poses I once considered “basic” become. I am always realizing subtleties I never knew existed.

I grew up in a relatively competitive environment. When I began practicing yoga, this mindset followed me onto the mat. Over time, however, I have found that yoga has helped me become less insecurely competitive with those around me and more honestly able to embrace and develop the skills within me.

Yoga is about constructing sturdy foundations by working with the available resources. Each individual has a different comfort zone and set of limitations that should always be respected. Yogasanas are about building and nurturing physical and, as a result, mental stability in a slow and controlled manner. By listening to your mind and body and staying within the framework of your limitations, your asana practice will certainly flourish. This will spill over into other aspects of life.

Blind girls practicing yoga at the Ranga Rao School for Visual Impaired Girls in Mysore, Karnataka, South India. Photographed by Sophie in August 2006.

In his work, the Yoga Sutras, the great Sanskrit sage Patanjali mentions asana in just 3 of the 196 aphorisms. (The performance of asana is just one small [yet very important] component of the path of ashtanga and hatha yoga. Asanas are intended to help purify the body and mind in order to prepare for seated meditation.) In this brief sutra, Patanjali sums up so much:

sthira sukham asanam

or

Steady and comfortable posture/seat

By working towards finding this composure in every asana, we can more easily carry this groundedness off the mat.

Embrace and love your practice as it is today and everyday. Find a practical balance between fearfulness and fearlessness while still respecting your limits. Remember each day is different.

One more note- Many yoga injuries occur during transitions from one pose into another. Remember to maintain control and comfort as you flow from one asana into the next. Allow the breath to guide you.

Honor your body, be aware of the climate. Sophie in Borovoy, Kazakhstan, March 2007.

Sundar playing around on a trip to through the largest mangroove in South India.

Sundar assisting me with tittibhasana in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, North India in 2005. (a slightly blurry photo…)

Performing the same arm balance at Deenabandhu in March of 2008.