Evolution Of Asana
Yoga has been steadily increasing in popularity over the last few decades, and its spread has brought it into mainstream consciousness. Today yoga is particularly associated with the practice of asanas, or postures. The intense and exhilarating feeling that the practice of asanas brings about has attracted, and still continues to attract, practitioners of all ages. Today, many different styles of yoga emphasise establishing an asana practice first and foremost, and often only touches on other aspects of the discipline when a solid foundation has been built.
Asana As A Base
There is no doubt that a regular asana practice brings physical and mental benefits which can be experienced immediately - a sense of calm coupled with better mobility, strength and endurance. When practised correctly, and especially when the practice includes inverted postures, asanas also give nourishment and strength to the nervous system, which leads to a stable mind and a sense of contentment.
Asanas can be adapted in accessible ways and therefore is often the first facet of yoga that is introduced. The various categories of poses such as standing poses, forward bends, backbends etc. provide a full engagement and development of the body’s entire physical and physiological make-up. They also have the ability to shape the body and mind of practitioners so that they feel drawn to explore other aspects of yoga, such as pranayama (breathing techniques) and dhyana (meditation). It takes time, effort and patience to perfect even the most simple asanas, however, once some proficiency and understanding are built, their effects are long-lasting and they establish a necessary foundation for other yogic activities. This is the role that asanas play today in a large number of yoga traditions, but has it always been like this?
History Of Asana
To understand why asana practice has become so central in modern yoga, it is useful to trace the history and significance of yogic postures throughout the centuries, by considering how they are written about in different yoga texts. When we start looking into yoga philosophy, the amount of ancient texts we encounter is quite significant, and although all these texts deal with the practice of yoga, their focus has shifted through time, as well as between different lineages.
For the sake of convenience, let us divide the last two thousand years into three eras: the classical era, the middle age era and the modern era. For each period it is interesting to examine the yogic text that was most representative of the kind of yoga that was practised, and how asanas were employed, comparing them with how asana is approached today.
Patanjali And The Classical Era
The Classical Yoga period started around 100 BC and lasted roughly until 500 AD. The main exponent of yoga in this era was Patañjali, often portrayed as a mythological figure who is attributed with the creation of the Yoga Sutras, the base text on yoga philosophy. To this day, the Yoga Sutras remain undisputedly the most important treatise on yoga. The text is composed of 196 short sutras, or condensed aphorisms, which are interpreted and decoded, often with the help of a commentary. Although the sutras offer a complete system of self-realization through the application of different techniques, a great deal of the text is about the mind rather than the body. For Patañjali, the definition of yoga leaves no doubt about the psychological and metaphysical nature of the subject: he says ‘yoga citta vritti nirodhah’ or ‘yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of consciousness’.
This is stated right at the beginning, and what follows is a series of ways to still the so-called disturbances of the mind. Interestingly, out of 196 sutras, only two deal specifically with asana practice, and they do not appear until later in the second of four chapters.
In Patañjali’s system, asanas are achieved when they are firm, stable and effortless at the same time. He tells us that their ultimate effect is the end of dualities within the practitioners (like heat and cold, pleasure and pain), and therefore a state of complete equanimity is reached when asanas are performed correctly. This is as far Patañjali goes in relation to asana: no particular postures are mentioned, no sequencing and no technical instructions. But he does say ‘once this (the practice of asana) is established, one is ready to move into pranayama’, hinting that the ultimate scope of asana is to be able to sit comfortably in a firm posture for a long period of time. We can therefore assume that back in Patanjali’s time the term asana was used to indicate a seat. In fact, the Sanskrit word ‘asana’ literally means ‘a seat', some kind of position to sit comfortably in. Patañjali yoga is mainly concerned with the mind and deep states of meditation, and asanas in this system are considered and employed because the practitioner sits in an asana to bring about these states.
Post Classical Era: The Rise Of Hatha Yoga
Things started to change during the post-classical era, from 500 AD up until 1700. This was when new forms of yoga started to emerge, particularly during medieval times, such as mantra yoga, laya yoga and hatha yoga. Of all these, hatha yoga was certainly the one that gained more popularity, and later on, ended up having a great influence upon the type of yoga we practise today. Hatha literally means ‘forceful'. In this style of yoga, practitioners started to employ more physical techniques (often quite extreme) to reach the goal of samadhi, or the state of yoga. In this practice there is a strong focus on asanas, pranayama, mudras (gestures) and bandhas (energetic locks). The most important text on hatha yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, written by Svatmarama around the 15th century. It plays a similar role in the post-classical era as the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali did in the classical era. The book is divided into 4 chapters, and the first one is entirely dedicated to asanas: the author mentions 15 postures in detail, and for the first time many of them are not seated asanas, but a mix of balancing, twisting, forward extensions and backbends. Svatmarama gives some minimal technical instructions on how to execute the poses, as well as a generic word about their physiological effects. This is quite a shift from Patañjali, as asanas are taken into more consideration, and the author even lists a total of 84 key asanas which should be performed. Postures started to become catalogued and more widely known, but the main focus of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika is actually on pranayama, or breathing techniques. Asanas serve the role of clearing the body from obstructions so that the breath can move freely. When pranayama is perfected, the mind is automatically controlled. In fact, what is probably the most famous verse of the text states: 'When the breath wanders, the mind is also unsteady. But when the breath is calmed, the mind too will be still'.
Patañjali advised to sit in an asana to still the mind. On the other hand, Svatmarama recommended steadying the breath in order to steady the mind. Asanas became more central as the physical aspects of the practice started to become emphasised more.
The Modern Era : BKS Iyengar And His Take On Asana
In exploring the role of asanas in modern-day yoga, it is necessary take into consideration B.K.S Iyengar, probably the most influential yoga practitioner of the last century. Back in the 1950s, yoga was not as popular as it is today. Only a few ascetics in India were practising it, and certainly yoga classes were nowhere to be seen. This changed when B.K.S Iyengar started teaching in Pune, and eventually was introduced to the West, taking the practice of yoga to the whole world. His precision in teaching and mastery of asanas showed westerners what kind of freedom the practice could bring to the body.
B.K.S Iyengar’s first book Light on Yoga, was published in 1966 and became a classic reference for all yoga practitioners. The most striking part of the book is the number of postures presented. More than 200 asanas with over 600 monochrome photographs of B.K.S performing the poses himself. The book provided much more detailed instructions on how to perform the poses, as well as a section on yoga philosophy, and a lengthy 300 week course at the end of the book. Here sequences were given for people to practise. This strong focus on asanas came from B.K.S Iyengar's practice, where he explored many possible adaptations of the poses, but also from his direct observation of the changing lifestyle and erratic habits of people living in industrial societies. He realised that we were far from experiencing freedom in the body, and therefore adopted asana as the prime way of bringing that freedom back. Without necessarily discarding other metaphysical aspects of yoga, B.K.S Iyengar taught asana on a whole different level, starting from the assumption that if the body was not treated well, the mind would never be still. One of his famous quotes was ‘how can you know God if you don’t know your big toe?’, meaning that our efforts should always start with the body, even if our aim is deeply spiritual.
In Iyengar yoga, all stages of yoga, from the external to the internal, can be experienced within the postures. Asanas are performed with breath awareness as well as mindful presence, extending their benefits well beyond the physical level. Other practices like pranayama and meditation are only introduced when asanas have been practised consistently for at least a year or two.
Asana As A Necessity In Today’s World
Many other styles of yoga have adopted an asana-centred approach over the last few decades, and indeed yogic postures have become so popular that most people will know at least a few basic ones. This was probably inevitable, as technology developed we started to become more and more disconnected from our bodies. Thus the evolution of focus in yoga practice was centred on the mind during the Patañjali era, the breath around the Hatha Yoga Pradipika period, and the body in modern-day yoga.
Asanas have always been integral to any system of yoga, whether they were just mentioned briefly or exposed in detail. Their steadily increasing application matches the changes in human beings' habits and lifestyles. At the time of Patañjali, people lived in unison with nature, and their bodies were likely fitter and purer than today’s bodies. As people organised their lives around big cities and technological comforts, the mind-body connection became lost, culminating in the present day, where a lot of people have a mostly sedentary lifestyle and have disconnected from their bodies. That is, until their bodies start to bother them!
Asanas have become a great tool for humanity. Whether one wants merely to experience more flexibility and strength, or to work towards deeper yogic states, they are available to one and all. Thanks to figures like B.K.S Iyengar, yoga asanas have been systematised and made safe and accessible, especially when taken under the guidance of experienced teachers.
Lorenzo Sacchini
Lorenzo Sacchini has been teaching at Central Yoga School since 2016 and is a Level 2 certified teacher.