Asana - Posture YS II - 46

Yoga Sutra II-46- STHIRA SUKHAM ASANAM - Asana is a steady, comfortable position.

Swami Satchidananda starts his commentary with "Asana means the posture that brings comfort and steadiness. Any pose that brings this comfort and steadiness is an asana. If you can achieve one pose, that is enough. It may sound easy, but in how many poses are we really comfortable and steady?" He tells us that as soon as we sit in a position we get uncomfortable being continually being reminded of different parts of their bodies. "Unless the body is perfectly healthy and free from all toxins and tensions, a comfortable pose is not easily obtained. Physical and mental toxins create stiffness and tension. Anything that makes us stiff can also break us. Only if we are supple will we never break."

Swami Satchidananda shares a story of a weed and a big tree. The bottom line was that when the rainy season came bringing heavy rain, the big strong tree got swept away since it was big, stiff and could be supple like the weed. It is pointed out that we need the strength of steel, but with flexibility. "The body must be so supple it can bend any way you want it to. Such a body will always be healthy and tension-free. The moment we sit down for meditation in such a body, we'll forget it."

In order for us to attain such a meditative pose was the reason that Hatha Yoga was created. It was realized that the pain, stiffness, bile, gas, etc. was created by toxins that came from eating the wrong foods at the wrong times in wrong quantities. The questions of the proper foods, amounts and times lead to the Yogic diet which did not include meat, fish, eggs, stimulants and excessive use of spices.

Swami Satchidananda informs us that the squeezing of the body in different directions was to get rid of toxins that were already inside the body. Some positions are mentioned and if they were not enough, other deeper postures were developed to deal with the toxins. "When the spine was stiff and didn't want to move, they employed postures that bent it forward, backward, sideward and upside down. Although Hatha Yoga is several thousands of years old, it never becomes outdated." The truths are always current, like gold always staying the same.