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Home , Chakrasana, Indra Devi, The Subtle Body

RETHINKING OUR THINKING ABOUT

By Garry Appel

I. Prologue.

Asanas are one of the eight limbs of . Yoga is a vast and enormous subject, one I am just beginning to learn. Even the smaller topic of asanas and practice is itself multifaceted and quite broad. My aim here is modest – to propose a new way to think about the factors we typically use to associate one asana with another – that is, to categorize the poses.

Thus, the work is of limited scope. It does not deal directly with how individual asana are performed or taught, although it may have implications in that direction that I will touch on later. Also, while I recognize the physical body is just a part of the asana practice, I am not sufficiently knowledgeable or experienced to convey any useful knowledge or insights about the aspects of this topic, although I will touch on this topic in the last section of this work. Finally, this work does not deal with how to arrange asanas together in a sequence or flow; although, again, it may have implications in that direction.

When we are experienced in a subject, we inevitably bring our biases and prejudices – our attachments and aversions – to other’s ideas about the subject. Sometimes, the more experienced we are, the more entrenched our ideas become and the more resistant we become to thinking about things in a new way. It is therefore perfectly normal (and often useful) to view ideas critically and with skepticism. Recognizing that, I ask you to consider what I have to say with an open mind, a beginner’s mind. Allow the ideas to develop and then please take what, if anything, you find useful and disregard the rest

II. Introduction.

In Sanskrit, asana means to sit down. As the third of ’s eight limbs of Yoga described in the Yoga Sutra, asana was the practice of sitting still to engage in and breathing (pratayama). Patanjali did not describe any specific poses in the Yoga Sutra and little is definitively known about the asanas that existed in the most ancient times. Yoga texts written after the Yoga Sutra mention eighty-four asanas, although only about fifty have been specifically identified. Other texts mention as few as seventeen asanas and as many as 8,400,000. The number of asanas regularly utilized in practice has certainly increased over the last century. Today there are hundreds of listings of yoga poses that can be found on the internet, with most being fairly similar to one another. Most list between one and two hundred basic poses. For example, Yogajournal.com lists about 80 basic poses.1 Yoga.com includes about 200 poses.2 At About.com, you can find more than 100 poses.3 Yogaglo.com illustrates about 100 poses.4 And the list goes on and on.

1 http://www.yogajournal.com/pose-finder/ 2 https://yoga.com/poses 3 http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/ 2

Yoga was barely practiced in India at the beginning of the 20th Century and the reasons are fairly clear. From the mid-1500’s Jesuit Portuguese monks traveled to India as missionaries and strongly condemned yoga. The Portuguese inquisition in India followed the monks and sought to convert the largely Hindu population to Christianity. During this period, which lasted into the mid-1700s, the practice of yoga was banned and, if discovered, often resulted in the practitioner being burned at the stake. British colonial rule, the 200 year period from about 1750 to 1950, followed. Yoga was seen as part of pagan Indian culture which the British endeavored to replace with their own values. It is thus a small wonder that yoga survived at all through this long period.

Born in 1888, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya would revive the lost practice and take it in new directions. Influenced by a movement during his youth to revive Hindu culture and traditions, Krishnamacharya studied the ancient practice of yoga from an early age. As he told the story, he went on a pilgrimage at sixteen to an ancestor’s shrine and had an extraordinary vision: “He found an old man at the temple’s gate who pointed him toward a nearby mango grove. Krishnamacharya walked to the grove, where he collapsed, exhausted. When he got up, he noticed three yogis had gathered. His ancestor Nathamuni sat in the middle. Krishnamacharya prostrated himself and asked for instruction. For hours, Nathamuni sang verses to him from the Yogarahasya (The Essence of Yoga), a text lost more than one thousand years before. Krishnamacharya memorized and later transcribed these verses.”5 The roots of Krishnamacharya’s teachings are found in those verses.

Beginning in the early 1930s, Krishnamacharya developed , which incorporated gymnastics brought to India by the British colonizers with the asanas (perhaps two dozen, according to most accounts) Krishnamacharya had learned as a young boy. The result was a flowing and dynamic practice that was coordinated with specific and . These early practices consisted of three series of poses, primary, intermediate and advanced. Students were required to master a series before moving on to the next. Students of Krishnamacharya included Pattabhi Jois, (author of first best-selling book on , Forever Young, Forever Healthy), B.K.S. Iyengar and Krishnamacharya’s son, T.K.V. Desikachar. Although each of these students is responsible for introducing to the West, it is Iyengar’s contributions that are the most recognized. With regard to the asana practice, Iyengar is perhaps best known for his detailed and precise descriptions of individual asana.

We as a species have a deep love, and probably a deep need, to categorize things that are complicated. The yoga asanas have not escaped this human proclivity. Over the years various efforts have been made to catalog the asanas. During the latter half of the twentieth century,

4 http://www.yogaglo.com/poses.php 5 http://www.yogajournal.com/article/philosophy/krishnamacharya-s-legacy/ 3 several well-known yoga teachers published lists of the asanas, including Swami Vishnu- devananda’s 1959 compilation of sixty-six6 poses and Sri ’s 1975 Master Yoga Chart of 908 Postures.

Mittra’s Master Yoga Chart

Detail of Mittra’s Master Yoga Chart

6 These are listed in an appendix to his book, the Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, published in 1960. 4

The advent of the internet and the information exchange it has fostered has greatly multiplied details about individual asanas. We now have instantaneous access to thousands upon thousands of pictures, drawings, videos and written and oral commentary about each pose. The thousands of websites providing information about asanas necessarily result in categorization as a way of accessing information about individual poses. The categories used on the websites result from how yogis have thought about the poses. In other words, the asana categories you see on a website give us a direct glimpse into how the author of the website categorizes the poses in their own mind and that, in turn, tells us a lot about how yogis in general think about the categories. When the categories everyone uses appear to be the same, which seems to be the case, it tells us we have general agreement about how the poses should be categorized.

Websites, with near uniformity, divide asanas into standing poses, seated poses, forward bends, back bends, twists, balances, and inversions. This is not very surprising because that appears to be the same categories used before the ascendance of the internet. What seems not to have been questioned or explained is why these particular categories have been employed. While I recognize the categories may be based in part on factors beyond the scope of my topic, like the effect of the pose on , this categorization nonetheless strikes me as odd. It seems to be based on a mash-up of sometimes inconsistent factors, including body position (back bend and forward bend categories), what body part is weight-bearing (standing or seated categories), the body orientation (standing and inversion categories) and other factors (twists). Also, most poses fit into at least two categories and many fit into three and some fit into none at all.

Let me illustrate by giving some examples. Let’s begin with I (Warrior I). It is most often categorized as a standing pose. However, it is also a back bend and a balancing pose. (Child’s Pose) is a forward bend and an inversion. (Triangle Pose) is typically categorized as a standing pose. However, it also involves a high degree of balancing. (Half Moon Pose) is a standing pose, but also clearly a balancing pose. Revolved Half Moon and Revolved Trikonasana are standing, balancing, twisting poses.

So, exactly what factors are we using to place a pose into the traditional categories? No one seems to know the answer to that question and it’s frankly not possible to figure it out by examining how poses are categorized. Is a standing pose one where your feet are on the ground? No. (Wheel Pose) and Setu (Bridge Pose) both qualify on that count, but no one would categorize them as standing poses. Then is a standing pose one where only the feet are on the ground? No, Vrikshasana (Tree Pose) is a balancing pose, not a standing pose, and Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog) and (Standing Straddle) are standing poses even though both have hands and feet on the mat. Perhaps then how many limbs are on the mat doesn’t matter and we should confine standing poses to those where a high degree of balance is not involved. That doesn’t work either because Virabhadrasana I involves a significant element of balance, but is categorized as a standing pose.

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The same true of Trikonasana (Triangle Pose). I could go on, but presumably the point is clear. For a categorization to make sense, the factors used to categorize should be clear and the result of applying those factors should be consistent. That just is not the case with our current system and we are therefore more than justified in asking whether there might not be another way of categorizing poses that would make more sense. It turns out there is.

But before we get to that, let’s pause for a moment and ask again why categorizing poses really matters in the practice and whether the current categories, even if seriously flawed, cause any mischief. I think the categories do matter and I think the current system is a problem. Asana practice is typically learned, at least initially, through group observation. Thus, the student joins a class, listens to auditory cues given by the teacher and watches the teacher’s visual demonstration of the poses linked in a sequence. Practically, new students watch other students to see the basics of how to perform a pose, particularly where the English or Sanskrit name of the pose is unfamiliar to the student. For example, if the teacher cues (but does not demonstrate) Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog), the new student will have no idea what they are expected to do, whether the torso is straight or curved, the placement of the hands and feet or where the head is supposed to be located, let alone any understanding of the subtleties of alignment of the asana. Looking at other students provides some help, but will also lead to confusion. Some have knees straight and other are bent. Some have heels on the mat and others are raised. Some have elbows slightly bent, others are hyperextended. Some have backs curved forward and others are curved back. Even with these obstacles, eventually, over time and with good teachers, most students seem to learn the poses.

But perhaps we can do better, both so the student can master the pose more easily and enable them to turn inward sooner. And perhaps a by-product of a more sensible and consistent way of categorizing poses would be to avoid all-to-common misalignments that I think may have their genesis in our confusion about how poses should be categorized. For example, how often do we see serious misalignment in a simple pose like plank, where the student’s buttocks are pushed up toward the sky and the legs and torso are out of alignment by twenty or thirty degrees. Perhaps this is a relic of the hit or miss teaching/learning style we practice and the lack of precision in categorizing poses. If the student had been taught from day one that plank is a straight body pose, just like or Savasana, but in a different spatial orientation, the body would not have learned and become attached to the misalignment.

What I am actually suggesting is a simplified way of thinking about and teaching asanas, one that largely eliminates confusion about the features of the pose and, not incidentally, alignment, and this will make more sense to students. Perhaps there are common broad features we can recognize in every asana and apply on a consistent basis to place them into more sensible categories. What I suggest is that all asanas consist of three variables: body shape, body orientation in space and the variations arising from differences in how the arms, legs and torso

6 are bent or twisted. It is that simple. In the following three sections, I will discuss and develop these concepts.

III. Body Shape

The body’s shape is the first variable to consider. Thought of in one way, there are nearly limitless ways the body can be positioned. Take Tadasana as an example, illustrated by my handsome and mostly accommodating model, Mr. Yoga, in Figure 1. Both arms can be pointing directly down or the arms could be extended up or out or front or back or one arm could be down and the other out or the arms could be down and the head tilted to the left or the right or forward or back. My head is about to explode with the possible variations and we haven’t even begun to consider the variations that could be achieved by bending one or both of the elbows or twisting the torso or bending the knees. If you could count each degree of change in arm, leg, neck and torso position, there are literally thousands upon thousands of variations, just for Tadasana. While recognizing this reality, let’s not get lost in the potential complexity and, instead, let’s think about the body in a gross, more macro way. When you do that, there are really only three basic shapes we need to concern Figure 1 - Tadasana ourselves with: straight, bent and curved.

Straight pose. Tadasana (Mountain pose), as shown if Figure 1, is a classic straight body shape. The body is arranged symmetrically, with the hips aligned over the feet, the shoulders over the hips and the head aligned at the top of the spine, sitting atop the C-1 vertebra.7 Apart from Tadasana, other asanas in which the body is straight include Savasana (Corpse Pose), Kumbhakasana (Plank) and Sirsasana (Headstand), shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, below.

7 I recognize there are curves within the straightness, including the three curves of the spine, as well as curves to the leg bones. For our purposes, however, these curves can be ignored because in an overall sense, the body is straight. 7

Figure 2 - Savasana

Figure 3 – Plank

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With Mr. Yoga’s assistance, the pictures illustrate very clearly that the body shape is essentially the same in each of these poses. That is of course not to say that the effect on the body is the same in each pose. Obviously, each pose presents very different conditions for the body to deal with and we will take up that issue later on. For the present, though, the point to understand is a simple one: Mr. Yoga retains his straight body shape as he is orientated in different ways in space.

Figure 4 - Sirsasana

Bent pose. The second shape the body can take is bent. In this configuration, the body is symmetrical about the mid-line when viewed from the front or the back, but when viewed from the side, the legs and torso form an angle that is less than 180º. To illustrate the concept, let’s consider that angle to be 90º degrees, while recognizing that any angle less than 180º and greater than 0º could be termed a bent body shape. An example of bent body shape is (Staff Pose), shown in Figure 5.

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Figure 5 - Dandasana

In this shape the head is arranged over the spine, the shoulders are aligned with the hips (that is, the back is straight) and the hips are aligned with the feet, just as in straight pose. The only change from the straight shape that bent pose presents is that the upper legs have rotated in the hip joints so that the legs and the torso form a 90 degree angle (in Dandasana) when viewed from either side. Otherwise, the alignment is the same as in straight pose. Examples of the bent shape, in addition to Dandasana, include Ardha (Half Standing Forward Fold), Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog), (Boat) and (Legs Up the Wall), as illustrated in Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9, below.

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Figure 6 - Ardha Uttanasana

Figure 7 - Adho Mukha Svanasana

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Figure 8 – Navasana

Figure 9 - Legs Up the Wall

In each of these poses, the basic body shape is the same, with the legs bent at 90º to the torso and the body otherwise aligned as in straight pose. Obviously, each pose presents variations on the

12 basic bent body shape and the variations arise from differences in how the arms and shoulder are placed and rotated. In Dandasana and Viparita Karani the arms are straight and at the sides. In Adho Mukha Svanasana, the arms are stretched overhead. In Ardha Uttanasana, the arms are held straight out and in Navasana, they are approximately half way between straight out and by the side.

Curved pose. The only other gross shape the body can present is to curve the spine8 forward, back or to either side. In backward and forward curves, the body is symmetrical about the centerline when viewed from the front or back, just like it is in straight body pose. In other words, we create a forward curve of the body by beginning with the straight body pose and bending the spine in a forward arc, increasing the spaces between the back (dorsal side) of each vertebra and decreasing the spaces in the front (ventral side). A backward curve is created the opposite way, decreasing the spaces between the back (dorsal side) of each vertebra and increasing the spaces in the front (ventral side).

With side curves, either left or right, the shoulders and hips and feet are no longer parallel when viewed from the front or back. Instead, a side curve (when viewed from front or back) is introduced into the spine. In any of these basic curved body variations, the neck and head naturally follow the curve of the spine, trending forward in forward curving poses, back in backward curving poses and to the left or right in side curves.

Examples of forward curved body poses are Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold), Sasangasana (Rabbit Pose) and (Plow Pose). Backward curved poses include Chakrasana (Wheel Pose), (Camel Pose), (Cobra Pose) and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Facing Dog Pose). See Figures 10, 11 and 12, below.

8 Although a slight forward curve may be induced between the upper and lower leg bones by hyperextending the knee joint, let’s disregard that for this analysis. It might also be said that bending the knee produces a curve of sorts; but we will cover that later when we discuss variations to the basic poses that are introduced as the arms and legs are rotated in the shoulder or hip sockets or when the knees and elbows are bent. 13

Figure 10 – Chakrasana

Figure 11 - Camel

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Figure 12 - Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

Side curving body poses include Chandrasana (Crescent Moon Pose) and (Gate Pose). Mr. Yoga is illustrating Crescent Moon in Figure 13, on the following page.

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Figure 13 - Crescent Moon Pose

As Mr. Yoga has shown us very ably, the three basic body shapes – straight, bent and curved - are the only gross shapes the body can assume. As we will see, all asanas can be placed into one of these three categories.

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IV. Body Orientation in Space.

After body shape, the second variable is how the body is oriented in space; that is, how it is oriented to a hypothetical horizon. Subject to some minor variations, the options for how the body can be oriented in space are limited to upright (standing), inverted (upside down), supine, prone and on the side.

To illustrate, we can examine the straight shape. It is easy to see that the straight body shape can be oriented in an upright position (Tadasana), inverted (Sirsasana), supine, (Savasana), prone (Plank Pose), and on the side (Side Plank), as shown by the following illustrations.

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Subject to variations of degree, these are the only ways the straight body can be oriented in space.

Examining the bent body shape results in a few different options: upright, on the sits bones (sitting), prone, supine and perhaps, inverted and sideways. Common asana examples would include Dandasana (sitting), Ardha Uttanasana (upright), Adho Mukha Svanasana (prone), Navasana (supine) and Viparita Karani (another supine variation). A pike position would be an example of the bent body shape in an inverted orientation and a supine straight- legged twist would be an example of the shape oriented on the side.9 In the pictures below, Mr. Yoga illustrates the bent body shape in the sitting, upright, prone and two supine orientations.

9Obviously, with the addition of a twist.

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Notice that the only difference10 in the structure of these postures, other than orientation to the horizon, is arm position. In Dandasana and Legs Up the Wall, the arms are at the sides, in Ardha Uttanasana, the arms are stretched out relative to the torso. In Downward Facing Dog, they are overhead. And in Boat, the arms are halfway between at the sides and stretched out.

The curved body shape presents the same familiar orientation options, along with some interesting variations. In the standing orientation the body can be curved forward or back or to either side. Uttanasana is an obvious example of a forward curved shape in the standing orientation. Perhaps less obvious is Viparita Virabhadrasana (Reverse or Upward Warrior), which is a standing pose which involves mainly a side curving posture. Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I), Alanasana (Crescent ) and Parsvottanasana (Pyramid Pose) are other examples of standing curved body poses. Anuvittasana (Standing Pose) is another standing example. In the supine orientation, Chakrasana (Wheel Pose) and (Bridge Pose) are examples of commonly performed asanas. Both of these involve backward curves, as shown in the following illustrations.

Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Facing Dog) illustrate backward curves in the prone orientation.

10 Muscularly and energetically, the postures are of course very different. We will address that later on. A t this point, we are looking only at the way the posture looks from the outside. 19

Other prone examples would include Marjaryasana (Cat Pose), Balasana (Child’s Pose), Janu Sirsasana (Head to Knee Forward Fold) and (Seated Forward Fold), all forward curving poses, and Bitilasana (Cow Pose), (Bow Pose), (Fish), Shalabhasana (Locust Pose) and Salamba Bhujangasana (Sphinx Pose), all backward curving poses.

There are also curved body poses in the side orientation. Parsva Dhanurasana (Side Bow Pose) is an example. Although somewhat less common, curved body poses occur in the inverted orientation. Vrschikasana (Scorpion Pose) is an example. In addition, Chakrasana (Wheel Pose) and Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) are also inversions because the head is lower than the heart in both poses.

To summarize, the second variable we have examined is how the body is oriented in space. We have seen that the body’s three basic shapes, straight, bent and curved, can be placed in various spacial orientations, including upright, inverted, prone, supine and on the side.

V. Joint and Twisting Variations.

The third variable in what asanas look like results from variations arising from movement in the joints and twisting. Although this seems daunting, it really is not be that complicated. The main body parts to consider are the arms, the legs, the torso and the neck.

Arms.

Structurally, arm position results from movement of the humerus in the glenohumeral joint and changes in the position of the scapula. The shoulder has a very broad range of motion which permits all these positional changes of the arm. The range of motion is typically considered to be: flexion 0° to 180°; extension 0° to 50°; abduction 0° to 90°; adduction 90° to 0°; lateral rotation 0° to 90°; and medial rotation 0° to 90°. Functionally, this allows the straight arm (not bent at the elbow) to be positioned by the sides, overhead, outward, backward or extended and most any other position in between. To illustrate, Tadasana has the arms at the sides, Utthita Dandasana and have them overhead. In plank the arms are outward and reverse plank has them backwards. In Virabhadrasana II and Side Plank the arms are extended out. See the illustrations on the next page.

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Focusing on the arm movement in the shoulder joint, the arm can rotate through about 360º, from straight to forward, to down, to straight back and then to straight up again. See Figure 14.

Figure 14

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The other arm joint to consider is the elbow. As a hinge joint, the elbow moves through about a 140º range of motion from straight to fully bent.

Adding additional complexity is the fact that the arms need not be doing the same thing at the same time. Although there is bilateral symmetry between the left and right arm positions in most asana, Virabhadrasana II for example, that isn’t always the case. For example, in (Extended Side Angle Pose), the upper arm is extended overhead and the lower arm is usually parallel with the bent knee.

Legs.

The situation with the legs is similar to the arms. There are two joints to consider that provide a range of movement. The hip joint, like the shoulder joint, is a ball and socket joint. The typical range of motion for hip flexion (bending the femur toward the chest) is about 120 degrees. Typical hip extension (bending the leg backward) is roughly 15 to 30 degrees. Side-to-side motion of the leg at the hip is roughly 40 to 45 degrees outward and 20 to 25 degrees inward.

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The hip joint is also normally capable of about 45 degrees of outward and inward leg rotation. The other leg joint is the knee. As a hinge joint, like the elbow, it bends backward about 150º.

In general, the legs can be in line with the spine, as in Tadasana, bent at the hip in a variety of angles, for example, 90º in Staff Pose, or out to the side, is in Prasarita Padottanasna (Standing Wide Legged Straddle). One or both knees can also be straight or bent, as in Utkatasana (both knees bent) or Utthita Parsvakonasana (one knee bent). As is the case with the arms, the legs can also be asymmetrical, multiplying the variations significantly. There are far more asana with asymmetrical legs than asymmetrical arms.

Torso and Neck Twists.

Twists of the torso and/or the neck complete the variables to be considered. In most of the poses identified so far, the torso and neck are not twisted. However, many twists are possible, providing many additional variations for the straight, bent and curved body shapes. In some poses both the neck and torso are twisted (sometimes in the same direction and sometimes the opposite direction). In others, only one or the other is twisted. For example, III (Sage Pose) is a seated torso twist, usually with the neck twisted, but sometimes not. See Figures 15 and 16.

Figure 15 - Sage Pose with neck twist Figure 16 - Sage Pose without neck twist

Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) is also illustrative. It can be performed with both torso and neck twisted or just the torso.

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Figure 17 Figure 18

Ardha (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose) is another example of a torso twist.

Figure 19

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VI. Why Do We Care.

So there you have it, a simplified way of thinking about asanas, based on the variables of body shape, body orientation in space and the how the arms, legs and torso are bent or twisted. We can now simply and easily categorize any pose by asking these questions. First, what is the shape of the body in the pose, straight, bent or curved? Second, how is the body oriented in space in the pose, upright, inverted, prone, supine, seated or on the side? Finally, are there any variations of arm or leg positions or twists? The end result is an accurate and very descriptive way of identifying and thinking about any pose.

Now let’s consider some examples. In Tadasana the body is straight and upright. Savasana is the same body shape, but the body is in a supine orientation. Plank is the same shape, but in the prone orientation and with an arm variation – both arms are straight and held out. Chaturanga is the same as Plank, but with both elbows bent at 90º. Side Plank is the same shape, but with one or both arms extended out (laterally abducted). Handstand is the same shape, but with the arms overhead and the elbows straight. Headstand is the same as Handstand, with the exception that the elbows are bent about 90º. Returning to Tadasna, if we extend the arms overhead, we have Utthita Tadasana and if we then bend the knees a bit, we have found Utkatasana.

Dandasana is a bent body shape, with the body positioned on the floor and the sits bones and back of the legs contacting the ground. If we stand up and maintain the same shape, allowing the arms to extend out, we have Ardha Uttanasana. If we return to a seated position and rock backward about 45º, we have Navasana. If the arms are extended overhead with straight elbows and we rotate the body in space by 180º degrees, we have found Adho Mukha Svanasana. Bending the elbows about 90º results in (Dolphin Pose).

Why does any of this matter? I think there are several reasons.

Teaching Beginners. One obvious benefit of thinking about poses in this way is that it emphasizes body alignment from the outset. If physical alignment of the body is important in asana practice, and I think that it is, then teaching in a way that allows the student to more easily comprehend alignment and allows the body to intuitively feel alignment is beneficial. I’ve tried this and it works. Take a student new to yoga and teach them Tadasana. I did this by having the students stand on their mats and position their body with what they thought were hips aligned over feet, shoulders over hips and ears aligned with middle of the shoulders. I asked them to close their eyes and “feel” that posture for ten or twenty seconds. I then moved them all to the wall and had them place heels, back of shoulders and back of the head against the wall, close their eyes again and feel that alignment, noting whether it was different from what they did away from the well. Everyone agreed the difference was significant and they were surprised by that. It made an impression on both their minds and, I think, their bodies. Away from wall, we went back to Tadasana and their alignment was excellent, very close to ideal.

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Next, I introduced Savasana, explaining that it was the same body shape as they had just done, but supine instead of upright, and we went through the process of closing the eyes for a little while to allow the body to learn and internalize what the straight alignment felt like in a different spatial orientation. Next I told them we were going to move into Plank, a pose everyone was familiar with from their non-yoga life experience. Before I asked them to perform the pose, however, I told them that Plank had the same body shape as Tadasana and Savasana, just in a prone orientation. I then asked them to move into the pose, but did not cue them at all. What occurred was pretty remarkable. With six male students, all moved into pretty much perfectly aligned Plank Pose. A very interesting result.

I used the same teaching process with the bent body shape, teaching Dandasana first, then Ardha Uttanasana, then Downward Facing Dog and finally, Navasana. The result was the same. When the students learned from the outset what the body shape was for the pose, it made a huge difference in whether their alignment was correct or not, compared to trying to cue students into the same poses without first teaching them about the body shape/orientation concepts. I’ve now taught this method a few times and the results are consistent. This is admittedly a small sample, but I am encouraged that this method of teaching, which arises from thinking about poses in a different way, could make a big difference to new students.

Another benefit of this approach is that new students seem much less overwhelmed. Think about it this way: If you’re new to yoga and are thrown into the deep end of the pool by attending a Vinyassa class and trying to follow along, you’re going to be asked to do many different poses in the course of an hour-long class, most of which will be unfamiliar. Our minds like to organize things and I think new students minds are working overtime in this environment to figure out which poses are like other poses and in what ways. There are so many factors for their minds to be thinking about. Am I standing, sitting or lying down? Am I perched on two limbs, four, three or one? Am I using a lot of energy or a little? Are my arms and legs bent or not? Am I looking up or down or out? While the mind is trying to create some order out of this apparent randomness, the body’s early experience of the asana is being impeded. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to give the mind the organizational structure up front, allowing it to quiet, and internalize the asana by having the student feel the alignment with closed eyes at the earliest stage of teaching? In sum, this new way of looking at asanas can change the way we think about teaching poses.

An Aid for Teachers. As teachers, thinking about asanas as basic shapes, oriented in space and modified in various ways, may help us in adjustments because it streamlines our thinking process. Let’s use Virabhadrasna II (Warrior II) as an example. Knowing that it’s a standing pose in the traditional categorization does not tell us much intuitively about the pose, other than that the feet are probably on the ground. But thinking of the pose as a straight body shape, with various modifications, including one bent knee, one straight leg, both arms extended out from the sides and the neck twisted 90º, immediately tells us what the student should look like in the pose. While it might be argued that teachers know this without thinking of the pose as a particular 26 basic shape, I think it may help some of us some of the time to think this way, particularly when it comes to the torso in this pose, which students either twist or curve with some frequency. In other words, just by thinking about the basic starting shape for Vira II, a straight body, we should immediately be able to spot a common misalignment that isn’t so obvious if we don’t think of the pose that way.

Utkatasana (Chair Pose) presents another example. It can easily be mistaken for a forward curving pose, or at least I see it performed that way a fair amount. However, the pose is actually a straight body shape, with both knees bent and arms stretched overhead. Thinking about Utkatasana as a pose built from the straight body shape helps teachers quickly see and be able to correct this misalignment.

A final example – Navasana (Boat Pose). The tendency of students is to perform this pose with a forward bend in the torso instead of a straight back. As teachers, thinking of Navasan as an inverted Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog) and a reoriented Dandasana (Staff Pose), all bent body shapes forming a 90º angle between the legs and the torso, immediately brings to mind the proper alignment for the pose. At the same time, it allows us to see student’s variations from the ideal shape and permits us to effortlessly cue adjustments.

So, I suggest that thinking of poses first as basic body shapes is a helpful aid in the teaching of yoga.

Categories Are Not Irrelevant. Echoing in my ears are the words of my teachers that the asana practice is about the internal and not the external - the goal of asana is to allow us to move within. I therefore hear my teachers asking whether all this focus on the externalities of the poses isn’t counterproductive – perhaps even non-Yoga. It’s certainly a legitimate question. But I think we may get to an answer by asking another question: why are the poses categorized at all? There are probably a lot of answers. Perhaps, as I suggested earlier, our minds cannot help but categorize a complex set of things, like asanas. It certainly helps us simplify what we need to think about and in that sense quiets the mind and fosters inward looking. So, maybe it’s just human nature to create categories of asanas, a nature we could not escape even if we wanted to.

Categories allow us to find common traits among a large grouping of objects which in turn conserves scarce brain power. That doesn’t preclude appreciation of the individuality of each object in the group. To the contrary, it allows us to easily focus on the variations because we don’t get bogged down in the common features. In the case of yoga asana, categorizing also allows us, if we chose the appropriate factors to create our categories, to understand the possible variations and thus create new twists (pun intended) on the basic poses. The factors we use to create our categories are therefore terribly important because those choices have everything to do with how we think about the asanas and how we create new and different variations for ourselves and our students. The traditional categories – standing, seated, back bends, forward bends, balances, twists and inversions – do not effectively utilize common characteristics among poses.

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Instead, as I’ve already explained, these traditional categories are a hodge-podge of body shape, orientation, weight bearing and appendage position. The end result are categories that frankly make no sense. You may agree or disagree with the categories and criteria for creating the categories that I’ve proposed here; but even if you think there is a better way to categorize, it doesn’t mean the idea of categorizing should be ignored. It seems inevitable that we are going to end up with categories and if that’s the case, then what is up for debate is what criteria we should use to categorize, not whether categories are useful. Categories are therefore not irrelevant.

There’s More Here Than Meets the Eye. On the surface, the shapes and orientations and modifications that make up the factors used in the asana categories I’ve proposed are only about the way poses look. But there’s more to it than just appearances. These criteria also tell us a lot about the energetics of a pose and ultimately this has to do with the subtle body as well as the physical body. Following are some thoughts about this aspect of the topic.

The energy invoked by a pose, which necessarily will involve both the physical and the subtle body, seems to be a function of a variety of factors, including how much of the body is bearing weight, whether the weight-bearing parts normally bear weight or not and how long the pose is held. For example, Tadasana (Mountain Pose) consumes a fairly low amount of energy. I wouldn’t call it a resting or restorative pose, but it certainly borders on that. Why? Because the feet and leg muscles commonly bear weight and in Tadasana the weight is distributed evenly between those weight-bearing limbs. However, if we extend the time the pose is held from a minute or two to half an hour, Tadasana becomes more energetic. So, even a pose that we might regard in one aspect as low energy, becomes a higher energy pose the longer we remain in the pose. If we modify Tadasana by lifting one foot off the ground, shifting into Vrksasana (Tree Pose), the pose becomes more energetic because the weight is now borne on one limb instead of two and because micro-adjustments are made moment by moment to maintain balance. Vrksasana also requires more mental energy or concentration to maintain the focus needed to stay in the pose.

If we raise the arms overhead and invert Tadasana, we end up with Sirsasana (Head Stand Pose). It’s interesting that the straight body arranged upright is a low energy pose and inverted it becomes one of the most energetic poses. Why? Because the weight is now all on the hands and the shoulder joints, which rarely bear weight, let alone the full body weight. In addition, maintaining balance is a huge energy hog in Sirsasana, probably because the body is so unfamiliar with balancing in that orientation. In addition, the body processes, like the circulatory system, are literally turned upside down, imposing a very different load on the body than in the upward orientation.

If we now orient the straight body shape to a prone position with the hands outstretched, we have Kumbhakasana (Plank Pose). It demands more energy than Tadasana, but less than Sirsasana, in part because now both hands and both feet are weight-bearing and because balance is less of a challenge. Offsetting that is the fact that the core must be more engaged to maintain Plank Pose

28 than Tadasana. If we now flip the straight body to a supine position, we have arrived at Savasana (Corpse Pose), the king of resting poses. Again, why is this pose low energy? Partly because a large percentage of the body is bearing weight, the heels of the feet, the backs of the legs, the buttocks, the upper back and the head. Nearly the entire body is supported by the earth and hardly any muscles need to be engaged in Savasana. Indeed, the whole point of the pose is not to engage any muscles.

We can also do a brief analysis of the energetics with the bent body shape and end up with similar conclusions. Dandasana (Staff Pose) is a relatively low energy pose because the weight of the body is distributed among the buttocks, the back of the legs and the heels, a fairly high percentage of the total body surface. There’s little balance required to maintain the pose and the muscle power that is required is relatively low, mostly just the core and the neck. Similar to Tadasana, the pose can be held a long time with relative ease. However, at some point as the length of time in the pose is extended, it becomes more of an energetic challenge to maintain it. If we extend the arms and rotate the bent body shape into a prone position, finding ourselves in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog), the shape becomes more energetic, partly because a smaller proportion of the body surface is bearing weight (hands and feet), partly because the hands and shoulders don’t usually bear weight, and partly because the core is more engaged in the pose. If we reorient our Downward Dog into Navasana (Boat Pose), the pose becomes even more energetic, probably because of increased demands on the core (particularly the abdominals) to maintain the shape in this orientation and the increased balance required, despite the fact that the weight is borne entirely by the rump.

To summarize, the energy demands of a pose seem to arise from a variety of factors that all interact with one another, including how the body is oriented in space, how much of the body is weight-bearing in the pose, what parts of the body are bearing the weight, whether the pose involves twists, turns and bent joints and how long the pose is held. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that, with the exception of time, these are all the same factors I’ve chosen to use in categorizing the poses. We can predict with some reliability how energetic a pose is going to be – how much energy it is going to generate or consume – by looking at our criteria. Certainly, using the criteria I’ve proposed here will be a much more reliable indicator of how energetic a pose will be than the traditional categories of standing, seated, etc., which give us no clue at all about the effect of a pose on the subtle body. Also, we can easily see that altering a pose by, for example, adding a twist, will use more energy. What this implies is important: categorization of the asanas is an important aid to really understanding the energetics of a pose. So, there’s more to the categories than just how poses look. The process that allows us to place poses in these categories also tells us about deeper aspects of the poses.

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VII. Conclusion.

Sthira sukham āsanam (practicing yoga with strength and in a relaxed manner gives rise to harmony with the physical body)

Prayatna śaithilya Ananta samāpatti bhyām (the key to success in this regard is practice with effort, which becomes progressively easier, combined with deep contemplation)

Tato dvaṅdva an abhighātaḥ (this results in a victory over the duality of life)

These three verses (46-48) from the Sadhana Pada, the second section of the Yoga Sutra, are all Patanjali gives us about asana. It is from this small seed that the robust practice of yoga asana has blossomed. Today there are millions of practitioners around the world and thousands joining the ranks every week. Some come only to exercise the body. For others, asana is part of a deeper practice.

The number of poses in regular use has exploded too, from a dozen or so to hundreds. Asanas have been categorized for many years and no one seems to have much questioned the traditional categories. It is time we ask those questions and in the process look more deeply into the characteristics of individual asanas and what makes one pose like or unlike another. By doing so, perhaps we can allow the asana practice to become simpler and more accessible, embodying Patanjali’s ideal of practicing with both strength and ease and fostering harmony among body and mind. Perhaps this may contribute to the enrichment of the practice of Yoga for all.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Garry Appel December, 2014

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