Sthria Sukham Asanam (2.46)
Rhythm is essential to life. The earth circles the sun in a stately rhythm. The tides rise and fall with the cycles of the moon. The cells of all living beings resonate with the tempo set by nature.
Like all organisms, humans require rhythm to function well. The lungs and the heart work rhythmically together. The muscles in our body contract and lengthen with one another with reciprocal inhibition. This is common sense to our logical minds, but if we look at that more closely, it’s fair to say that a lot of us tend to ignore the natural internal and external rhythms of our prana (life force). Prana is what strings body, mind, and spirit together allowing them to act together as a single organism. But instead of attending to the rhythm of our prana, we try to create our own (often times) unnatural tempo.
The Aghori Vimalananda says,
"Westerners wear their gods on their wrists."
By this it’s meant that our dedication to arbitrary schedules disrupts our pranas natural rhythm, weakens our life force, and undermines our ability to adapt to inevitable stresses that come our way.
It's important to us as yoga practitioners to have an ever-growing sensitivity to our own prana so that we learn to move through our lives with steadiness (sthira) and ease (sukha). These two Sanskrit terms are found in Yoga Sutra 2.46. This Sutra is most commonly translated, "posture (asana) [should be] stable (sthira) and comfortable (sukha)," but is more literally translated as: ‘resolutely abide in a good space, become established in good space’.
This is only possible when our prana is healthy. And cultivating healthy prana is a process that extends beyond the edge of our yoga mat into every aspect of our daily life. When we start infusing our lifestyle, diet, and relationships with shtira and sukha, we pave the way for a life of balance, ease and steadiness.
In this weeks Heated Flow 2/3 at The Flow in Medford, we will be playing with this relationship of steadiness and ease. Managing our breath within the postures, elevating our pranic awareness and aptitude.