Meditation in Motion

Not just a physical practice, yoga asanas can be a doorway to self-awareness.

By Judith Lasater

All I clearly remember from my first yoga class is the ceiling. Between asanas, we were instructed to lie down on our mats and rest. I don't remember much else about what we did, but I do remember that this little taste made me want more. The next morning at home, I practiced all the poses I could remember, and from that day on I was hooked. Asanas became a central part of my life.

What drew me to the practice of asana was an intuitive feeling that these movements were not just "stretching"; they seemed to have some greater connection with my soul. Now, after years of study, I believe that each asana represents an aspect of myself and as such offers a powerful doorway inward to deeper awareness. This deeper awareness occurs because when I practice a pose, I am focusing on the feelings and thoughts that arise rather than just on completing the movement. I may notice tightness in my legs or emotional resistance to certain movements. This daily intense period of focus helps to create a habit of paying attention which follows me through the rest of my day. As I pay attention to what arises, I learn to see myself and my reactions more clearly; as I see myself more clearly, I begin to understand that my reactions are habits that I can let go of. This process is at the core of spiritual practice.

The use of asanas to cultivate awareness is probably as old as Indian civilization. Archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old carving from the Indus River valley that shows a cross-legged figure seated in a position yogis still use for meditation. Despite this prehistoric evidence of the ancient roots of yoga, we actually have little concrete information about the development of yoga asanas. Tradition has it that each asana was created when a rishi (literally, "seer"; the rishis were the sages of Vedic India) spontaneously took on that posture during deep meditation. Surprisingly, the most revered yoga text of ancient India—the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, from the second century A.D.—barely discusses the subject. Patanjali gives no specific instructions about asana practice, and only touches on it in four of his 145 verses (chapter two, verses 29 and 46-48). Although several other premodern Indian texts (including the Siva Samhita , the Gheranda Samhita, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika) provide a little more description of specific poses, traditionally many teachers have followed Patanjali's lead and taught that the main value of asanas is to prepare the body for long hours of meditation by creating a strong back and supple legs.

In Western culture of the late 20th century, asana practice has taken on forms Patanjali might not even recognize. Yoga asanas are becoming ever more widely known and accepted, mostly as therapeutic treatment for physical injuries and as an increasingly popular fitness regime. Now you can find yoga asanas not just in popular health journals, but also in the slickest fashion magazines, and the media quickly informs us which movie stars are practicing yoga.

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