Asana and Meditation in Yoga

When speaking about Asanas in Yoga, most people believe that Asanas are no more then body positions that the ancient Yogis came up with in order to relax and flex their bodies after long hours of meditation.

This is a totally wrong view of the amazing science of the Asanas. According to the traditional texts of Yoga (such as the hatha yoga pradipika, shiva samhita and gerandha samhita) the Asanas are meant to bring about in the Yogi specific kind of energies, states of mind and levels of consciousness. The Asanas are actually much more then just physical in their purpose and true meaning.

In this post I will reveal to you the true meaning of the Asanas as we teach in Agama Yoga school in Thailand. Where we teach that the Yoga Asanas are a practice that brings deep change and true internal transformation to the human being.

The first thing to understand when trying to study Asanas is that they are a path to gain a change and effects on the energy of the practitioner. This energy is the famous Prana from the Indian and Yogic tradition. The prana is the life force (same as "Chi" in China and "Ki" in Japan). This life force or prana is every where and we can find that all leaving creatures are consisting of prana and even vegetation and up to mineral formations are having prana in them. You can say that prana is one of the fundamental building blocks of the universe.

In the human being, according the the yogic knowledge exist channels of energy, which are like a grid of subtle energy channels, through which the prana flows. They are called the Nadis in Yoga. These Nadis are very similar to the Meridians from Acupuncture. Only that in Yoga the ancient texts say there are 72,000 Nadis in the human body.

When practicing Asanas the Yogi actually moves the prana in the Nadis. And the most interesting part is - that the Yogi collects prana from different external sources from the universe. The universe is infinite in it's energies and the Yogi can connect to different types of energies of his or her choosing. At this point, some of you will ask, how in heavens name can the Yogi first of all bring energies from different sources of the universe into his own Nadis structure and body and second, how does the Yogi choose which energies he or she wants to collect?

Well, it sounds like a good question doesn't it? amazingly enough the answer to both questions is the same. The Yogi uses his or her - MIND.
The mind is the source of all powers in Yoga and there is NO YOGA WITH OUT THE MIND. Actually to be more specific - THERE IS NO YOGA WITH OUT THE CONCENTRATION OF THE MIND.

And that is why, Asanas are so misunderstood today in almost all Yoga styles. Because they are most of the time done - without the mind being involved, just like gymnastics or some sports.
Lets be clear here: Yoga is not gymnastics or sports. Yoga is a spiritual path that penetrated much deeper and it does that thanks to the use of the MIND.

So by focusing his mind the Yogi can put himself/herself in resonance with any chosen energy of the universe. And the Asanas in Yoga are an amazing tool to facilitate exactly that resonance. When the Yogi focuses the mind in the Asana on the correct energy and chakra, the effects are efficient, powerful, constant and certain. And that is the secret of the Asanas in Yoga.

When it comes to meditation, things are even more deep. Meditation is an essential part of the Yoga system. Patanjali, the great Yogi and Rishi of yore, states in his famous Yoga sutras that Meditation (Dhyana in Sanskrit) is stage 7 in the 8 stages of Yoga.

When meditating the Yogi uses his mind alone as opposed to Asana practice where the body and especially the energy are used as well. In meditation we have a controlled expansion of the mind, according to Patanjali. Here the Yogi uses special techniques and sometimes mantras to reach ultimate expansion and development of the mind.

Meditation is a huge subject that I will address in much more details in future posts. But for now it is sufficient to say that anyone can meditate. Meditation is a practice that can bring peace, harmony, control, memory, clarity and lucidity to the human being and ultimately self realization can be obtained.

I have seen in Agama Yoga adults as well as children meditating with great success and with wonderful results. This is a practice that can change your life and create an inner peace you have never known you can reach. Instead of loosing ourselves in the outer world's noise, irritation, disturbances and madness we can look in turn inside ourselves and discover a place of pure beatitude, tranquility, true happiness and everlasting peace and bliss.

This was a look into the inner workings of Yoga. The concept of Asanas and some remarks on Prana, energy work and meditation.

For more info. and courses, please check out the Agama Yoga school website. May you all enjoy solid Yoga practice, pure and deep meditation and discover inner peace and happiness.