Asana Practices – An introduction

Introduction of Asana

Asana refers to “a position in which one feels comfortable”, so it should not be a posture where undue force or pressure is exerted. If one feels uncomfortable with the posture, it means he or she is doing it wrong. No two human beings are the same, so there cannot be only one way to hold an Asana position.

Asanas have been designed with the aim of facilitating spiritual practice. How so?

“Human mind had infinite potentiality, so the development of the body and mind must be simultaneous. If the body does not catch up with the development of the mind, there will be problem. Therefore it important to understand the deeper relationship between body and mind for meditation practices; and to learn the right asana before higher meditation.” said my teacher.

As we all know Yoga originated from Anciet India, where cultural and spiritual aspect of life is strong.  Each posture is aim at improving functions of the body, smoothening the energy flow within the body, thereby creating a body that allow one to meditate and gain concentration.

Many of Asana postures bear resemblance of certain animals, because the structures of the animal give it its characteristics or reflects the quality of the animals.

For example, peacock pose (Mayurasana), you would notice peacocks show their feathers to attract, they are not shy about displaying their features. It has been said that peacock has a strong digestive system as it can digest poisonous snakes and scorpions. So the practice of Mayurasana is identified with the quality of the animal in solving a problem of digestive system and building confidence.

Care must however be taken when practising the different asanas because each individual’s body is different and there may be certain weaknesses or medical conditions that make it unsuitable to practice certain post.

I would be learning the benefits and contra-indication of each asana during the course.

Having understood that the asana practice is really to facilitate spiritual advancement through meditation, the meditation practices is therefore an important part of yoga practice.  I would slowly learn how the asana practice affects the body and the mind training process.

my story

I have changed several titles over the span of my career, from an auditor to accountant to group accountant, to a finance and admin manager. Finding myself being sick of financial reporting, I took a 40% pay cut and went for a management executive position on 1 year contract term. Then inadvertently was made a financial controller, because the company valued my past working experience, although I was not applying that skills set while holding a management executive position.  Knowing that the area of work is not something I want,  I finally quit in the aspect of corporate financial reporting after 8 years.  I was fortunate not having any major commitments, unlike my peers who by then had a lifestyle, or had started a family, and need to maintain an income.

I took up an hourly-paid job teaching book-keeping at a training centre, and then a customer service officer when the book-keeping course got cut. I rendered my translation service for the training centre’s courseware from English to Chinese.  I gave tuitions on book-keeping and mathematics but was mainly relying on my savings.

Throughout that 8 years, I would ask myself, each time I’m thinking of resigning from my position, “what do I want?”. I cannot answer that because I did not know, all I knew was what I do not want.  I believe a lot of us have the same feeling.

My ex-colleague, who had became an Insurance Agent, got me to explore to the Financial Advisory and Planning Industry. I took the exams to qualify for license, as I had nothing to lose at that time, and eventually became a Financial Consultant. I was inspired by how setting aside money could give people the sense of security and comfort that their future need and potential cost would be fulfilled by these financial plans.

I have my fair share of hard work on making calls, and I met more people during the first 3 years of this career, than I had in my life before this job. The training and the meet-ups developed me in term of managing my emotions and mental attitude, have also cultivated the reading habits. I found so much resources from reading, but we have to be selective about what we read. Read only those that nourish the heart and mind.

It is coming to the 8th year of being in the financial industry, and numerous changes have taken place.  I came to realise that material wealth is not so important as the person’s mental and spiritual wealth.

About 4 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness which paralysed her. She had wanted me to give up my job, although I had 4 siblings, and to take care of her.  I was not willing to give up my job which I thought I would retire from.  Still she is my mother and had been taking care of the family, we took our turn to take care of her and some took over “her duties” to cook and to clean the house.  Everyone of us is affected, but we handled in our own way.

I found myself asking the question “What do I want?” again.  I read Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?”, I went to church, hoping to receive messages from God to help me cope with what I was facing at home.

My colleague came to know about my mother’s condition and he was introduced the book: “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” by Sogyal Rinpoche and other books about dealing with life issues using Buddhist’s philosophy.  I also attended some public talks by a few Buddhist centres. The ideas, thoughts and words resonate with me deeply. I went to Nepal with my mother’s picture to seek blessings for alleviation of her sufferings. I believe that trip had made a dramatic change, unknown to me then, to my life and my future lives.

Yoga History and Science

As part of the course, I have to study History and Science of Yoga.

Why do we need to learn Yoga History and Science?

The main reason is to enable us discover how the world or how the subject evolved. Understanding the source, the philosophy and the meaning of the practice would provide insights and inspiration for our learning.

It is interesting to learn that civilisation, where man had proper irrigation systems, started over 5,000 years ago and that was when Yoga had already existed. The wisdom of the practice must have benefited many and we could continue to share with more.

What is Yoga or what does Yoga mean?

It is not merely a set of exercise or postures to tone our muscles or get in shape. Yoga is the physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India with a view to attain a state of permanent peace.

The term yoga can be derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, to join, to unite.  The unification is like sugar being dissolved into water, unifying the individual consciousness and the universal consciousness.  Therefore the practice involves both purification of mind and body.

There are different schools, texts and great personalities that provide different definitions of yoga, the one that my school focuses on is according to Patanjali Yoga Sutra: yoga-citta-vritti-nirodhah: Yoga is the suspension of the mental propensities (activities).

citta: mind, vritti: expression/activities of the mind, nirodhah: suspension

So there would be practices of both meditation and physical aspect of the body as we go through the course.

Breathing – the optimum way

Breathing, the very thing that all of us have been doing since birth, has over time gone sub-optimised.

We still get air into our lungs, but we take greater effort because our breath has become shallow. We have also overlooked the use of breath to help our body relax and heal.

Oxygen comes from the air we breathe in and get carried to all parts of the body. Learning the optimum way of breathing is the foundation of yoga practice, because we want to ensure we do it properly on a daily basis to maintain vital life force.

How should we breathe?

The mechanic of breathing can be found in Wikipedia.

Briefly described: At a relaxed state, the body uses diaphragmatic breathing, also known as abdominal breathing or belly breathing, because involves movement lungs, diaphragm and abdomen. The diaphragm is a domed muscle that separates thorax and abdomen.

When we breathe in, or inhale, the diaphragm contracts or flatten, this contraction causes the abdomen to bulge outwards, to accommodate air intake.

When we breath out or exhale, the diaphragm relaxes air leaves largely by elasticity of the lung. This is quiet, relaxed breathing needing little energy.

However, along the way, we started depending on chest breathing, that is to use the chest muscles to draw in the air. This kind of breathing is a shallow, hence not enough air and oxygen gets into our bodies and we face slower healing, experience more health conditions, such as aches and pains.

During time of stress and anxiety, we tend to take in rapid and shallow breath, and that further prolong anxiety and stress. Stress can be managed and reduced with conscious breathing. You may use abdominal breathing to help control your nervous system and encourage your body to relax, bringing about a range of health benefits.

Therefore it is important we observe the way we breathe, to ensure we are breathing the optimum way to maintain good health.

Picture credit: Wikipedia

a start of a new journey – learning yoga

The first experience with yoga was in last quarter of 2012 at a activity centre for awareness and wellness. I started off with a goal of fixing a regular exercise regime to get the body in shape. The fact that yoga is gentle to the body, and has many proven benefits to overall health, made it a good choice, plus the course name I signed up was called “Gentle Yoga”.

The weekly lessons went on for over a year, with breaks in between, due to my work commitment and holidays; and the teacher having to go retreat and holidays. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the sessions and find myself being able to bend forward to touch my toes without too much pain. I was not even able to bend this low when I was much young in my teens.

Until end of 2013, the idea of wanting to learn yoga at a greater depth, took root in my mind. I have benefited from those lessons, e.g. learning how to breath properly, and I thought won’t it be great to be able to share this science with more people?

So I signed up for a diploma course at a yoga academy in December 2013 and the course started this week.

I hope to share my thoughts with through my experience of learning yoga in preparation to become a teacher. May this journey be one that is beneficial to all.