Breathing
Inhale you inspire, exhale you relax. Balancing the breath is balancing the mind. Yoga without breath is simply exercise, unconscious but beneficial. Breath is the single most transformative element of Yoga. Listen, watch, monitor and focus on this alone and there will be an incredible change in your life. Always breathe through the nose, the mouth is for eating.
In keeping with many traditional schools of Yoga, we believe that the single most important element of Yoga asana is breath. Breath links body and mind. Every movement of the body can be linked to the breath and every breath to a state of mind. This flow, the connection between body and mind consciousness, is one of the most beneficial elements of Yoga practice. This is the essence of asana and the preparation for deeper practice.
Breath affects strength, stretch, endurance and balance. Breathing techniques are critical in the development of whole lung breathing instead of the typical half breath or shallow breath we develop through our unconscious lifestyle. Breath is the fuel of life. Ninety per cent of our physical energy comes from breath, our mental state is influenced by breath and, as Yogis believe, the length of our life is determined by the length of our breath.
By using the breath, and not the mind, to guide us through asana we are able to surrender, soften, strengthen and develop awareness more easily.
A full breath is a full life.
Posture
Your body is unique, you know it better than anyone. Approaching the physical practice of Yoga should be done mindfully. Knowing your body and it's particular traits gives you the opportunity to focus on specific areas to strengthen, clean, break down and in some instances protect. You will enjoy the physical experience of Ashtanga Yoga, especially the very cleansing body heat developed through special breathing and movement combinations.
There is an edge, a fine but distinctive edge, between pain and intensity. The body has its feedback systems and to ignore them is insensitivity. These feedback systems are both psychological and physiological. Which is functioning to create the specific sensation of pain is rarely discernible. The edge between pain and intensity is therefore the edge on which to play in a Yoga asana.
Yoga asana is a mirror: a reflection of the process we use to live our lives. Some people will ignore the feedback of pain in the interests of ambition, and in doing so will break through their barriers. Others will ignore the pains and break the body. Either way these attitudes reflect an insensitivity associated with the asana practice.
The edge is the border which a point of questioning and a point of respect for truth. Moving to that edge is the constancy of growth. In asana the questions that arise as a result of that edge are the food from which we grow.
The edge is the playful point of the asana practice. It is an exploration of the mind and the body through which deeper insight can be attained. Force and will are functions of the mind dominating over the body; retreat and avoidance are the functions of the body dominating over the mind.
Most importantly, go slowly. There are as many Yoga postures as there are stars. Slowly you will develop awareness as well as flexibility and strength. Slowly progress and make it yours.
Dristi
Eye positions are called Dristi. Every posture and every movement between the postures has a specific Dristi. To focus the eye is to focus the mind. Dristi focus deepens the meditation, concentration and mind control aspects of the Ashtanga Yoga practice.
Where does the mind begin and the body end. Changing our posture changes our mind, changing our mind changes our body posture. Change confronts and because emotions are stored in the body there is resistance to change both physically and mentally. Tension in the body is usually tension in the mind.
Know these factors and it becomes obvious that one of the major challenges to performing a Yoga asana is mental. To move certain body parts and to open and stretch certain areas is to confront, sometimes years of blockage in the mind.
Resistance is simply a desire to stay. It is a reflection of an infatuation about where we are. We may fear the unknown in letting go, we may feel a lack of security, or perhaps have a past remembered emotion about certain movements or mind states.
Confronting these through body, mind and breath is a gradual process. A sequenced asana practice will help us to face and move through the blockages faster that an asana practice in which we are free to choose the poses.
Relaxation
At the end of your asana practice relax in the most difficult Yoga pose of all, the corps pose. Lie still, no movement at all, still your mind and allow your whole body metabolism to bask in the transformations you have created through the practice. Allow the mind to be still
