tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post7491836402772227987..comments2024-03-21T00:30:14.738-07:00Comments on Yoga in the Dragon's Den: More ruminations on the place of asana in the practiceNobelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-77879334318080633352011-01-03T10:15:16.538-08:002011-01-03T10:15:16.538-08:00Thanks for the discussion too, Stephanie. It's...Thanks for the discussion too, Stephanie. It's definitely true that the point of the asana practice is to use the asana as a tool/arrow to get to and work with the energetic body. Since the energetic body (pranamaya kosha) is the "interface" between the gross physical body and the deeper spiritual layers of ourselves, working with the energetic body allows us to effect changes on these deeper spiritual layers. <br /><br />On a purely physical/anatomical level, I think Gregor Maehle said somewhere that even though both LBH poses and padmasana/baddha konasana require hip openness, the kind of hip opening required in LBH involves a slightly different set of muscles from the kind of hip opening required in padmasana/baddha konasana (can't remember the exact anatomical details; don't have his second-series book with me right now). So you might be open with respect to a certain set of hip muscles, but not with another (the ones that you need for a "good" padmasana/baddha konasana). Moreover, I think that if you have very open hamstrings and long legs, it is possible to compensate to a certain extent for lack of hip-opening in LBH by drawing upon the length of the legs and hamstrings. <br /><br />I relate to the not-getting-the-thighs-to-the-floor-on-your-own thing. It was only in the last year or so that I managed to get my thighs to the floor on my own in baddha konasana. And it happen so subtly that I don't even remember the exact moment it happened. I was just doing my practice one day, and I suddenly noticed that hey, I can get my thighs to the floor in baddha K now (when did that happen?).Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-27878977625605020562011-01-03T05:30:05.375-08:002011-01-03T05:30:05.375-08:00Thanks for the discussion, Nobel! It's fun.
...Thanks for the discussion, Nobel! It's fun.<br /><br />As you said in your previous post, it's hard to discuss these things without sounding trite. So I try to use fresh language when / if I can; sometimes the terms are not totally appropriate! Haha. Maybe "Bonus Features" isn't totally accurate... I guess the Bonus Features are more essential than that.<br /><br />Anyway, I just wanted to add one thing. I think this 'essential something extra' in a yoga practice (possibly not just Ashtanga) is that there is an energetic body that we're working with. This is what the asanas are doing to us -- manipulating / playing with / clarifying our energetic body. So the asana is a tool, as you say. Or an arrow, in Mr. Iyengar's terms! (He definitely has a way with words. Love him.) There is generally some sort of faith, if not actual experience, in yoga that we are working not only with the body but with prana, samskaras, and other things that are more slightly more elusive.<br /><br />Here's an example. I'm sure we all have many examples of this... after a while it's not about faith, but about these direct experiences, isn't it? Anyway for me, my hips are extremely tight, and always have been. I have no problem with LBH poses but my lotus is pretty awful and I can't bring my thighs to the floor on my own in baddha konasana. I have been practicing yoga on and off for over a decade and still can't do this. If it were 'just about the asana' I would have given up and gotten bored with primary series many, many years ago! But I'm still at it. <br /><br />When my teacher or an assistant approaches me in that pose, baddha k, I go through a surge of panic. It is the most painful and somehow intimate adjustment ever, in terms of emotional access / release! My teacher puts all his weight on my legs, basically standing on one leg and pushing down on the other... I don't feel like it's going to injure me, but I do feel like the pain is more than I can bear. I have to work on not hyperventilating, taking deep breaths, relaxing the jaw, etc... It is so intense! And you mentioned before the 'torture' that comes with this practice... For me, this is the torturous moment. I am no masochist, though, because *It's not about the asana.* I believe (/know) that there is energy in the body, and this energy gets blocked with samskaras and emotional issues, and that the hard work in this pose is helping me manipulate this energy, freeing some of the samskaras and knots and emotions. Again, if the pose was all about getting the thighs to the floor and expressing a perfect Baddha Konasana, then I would have given up long ago.stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14058168113722446790noreply@blogger.com