Alignment (April 2022 Newsletter)

Alignment in poses is essential for deriving the best benefits from a yoga class. After all, why do we practice yoga? For a good stretch, balance, strength, calm mind, good health, and well-being.

What is alignment in yoga? Alignment is the arrangement of the body into a pose where it feels comfortable, stable and at ease, but still working hard. It consists of fully using the entire body and the breath to execute each pose. Most poses should feel just a little beyond one’s comfort zone. How then is the pose comfortable and at ease? In Chapter 1, verses 10 to 15 of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali states that yoga should consist of sustained practice without wanting or attachment till it becomes so firmly rooted in the psyche, physiology and morale that the conscious mind grows silent, non-reactive, and unattached to anything at all. This is alignment in the supreme cosmic sense! The feeling should linger long after class. It should last all the time.

Interestingly, when through regular practice one begins to align with the spirit, there is a sudden resistance and boredom with it all, and we drift away from the practice. Back to square one! Enlightenment isn't so easily forthcoming!

The photo makes this point clear. The grassy edge of the sidewalk is steady and unmoving (you might say it represents Purusha - That which is true and real, permanent and steady). The shadow of the fence (prakriti - you and I, who are always changeable and always changing,) slowly aligning and then drifting away. Oh, so close to the finishing line! Enlightenment is not so easily forthcoming!

Practice often, be consistent, and stick with it. Even if not enlightened, we can at the least live our lives in true freedom.

Namaste,

sipra