Why do we practice challenging asanas in Ashtanga Yoga?
Why do we practice challenging asanas in Ashtanga Yoga?
Have you ever wondered why we tie ourselves into knots physically and metaphorically on our yoga mats during our Ashtanga yoga practice? (Hint it's not so we can increase our social media following)
In Ashtanga yoga we move our bodies through the same practice each day, and we inevitably come up against resistance; places of stuckness or parts of our body that are outside of our awareness.
When faced with this resistance, we have two options. We can either try to bypass the resistance or navigate through it carefully and diligently.
Opting to bypass can sometimes lead to injuries.
Through continual avoidance of one part of our body, we can end up overcompensating and putting pressure on other parts. This is seen most commonly with knee injuries that occur due to tightness (avoidance) of the hips. For me, avoiding tightness in my upper back led me to injure my more flexible lower back by forcing myself into intense backbends. Through attempting to bypass resistance we can end up emotionally and physically “stuck’ or frustrated by injury.
The second option is more challenging, requiring attention and patience.
Working patiently into areas of resistance doesn’t necessarily mean the asanas we practice will be easily achievable and at times we may face discomfort. However, this approach offers an opportunity to explore, create space and become more embodied. Ultimately this approach fosters sustainability in our practice.
In many ways, the physical asana practice mirrors the internal mental process.
The areas of stuckness in the body can be related to our unconscious or shadow. In the same way that paying attention to the stuck parts of our body provides an opportunity for growth, delving into the shadow parts of our personality allows us to bring what’s unconscious into consciousness.
Samskaras are imprints on our consciousness that arise from actions and experiences we’ve had in the past (both in this and previous lives). Dr Shyam Ranganathan describes them as traumas in his brilliant translation of the Yoga Sutras. However, Samskaras can be both positive and negative. According to the yoga tradition, they determine our current and future karma.
Practising Svadhyaya or self-study is the process of bringing our samskaras, which form part of our unconscious, into consciousness. Once we are aware of our unconscious patterns we can start to understand how they impact our thoughts and behaviours. This understanding of self allows us to live more peacefully.
In the Ashtanga practice, Tristana (Breath, Asana, Drishti) guides us to withdraw senses externally (pratyahara). We work with postures that challenge us physically because working into areas of stuckness allows us to become more embodied, and more aware of the subtle changes within.
This process of awareness happens off our yoga mat as well. While we move about the world we learn to notice subtle changes to our being and through the practice of svadhyaya (self-study) we learn to identify the processes through which these changes occur. By doing so we work through our unconscious samskaras, the shadow part of our personality.
Patanjali says that through meditation we obtain clarity (nirvicara-samadhi) (YS.1.47) and once we have this clarity our samskaras are born of truth-bearing wisdom (Y.S 1.50) so instead of blocking they lead us further along the path of wisdom and self-discovery.
So coming back to answer the original question…..
In Ashtanga yoga we when practise asanas that challenge us physically (and what this looks like varies for each individual), it’s not about doing so for the sake of achievement but about becoming more embodied, and more aware of our inner world therefore facilitating our path of self-discovery.
