Asana : the approach.

There are basic 3 parts to an asana , the entry , the hold ,and the exit. The first and the last are as important and mostly determine how well you will be holding. Again syncing the movement with the breath , inhaling while extending and exhaling while relaxing , is the correct way to approach to any asana( am not aware if there are any exceptions to this breath rule).

Am saying take your time with the asana, savour  it. Let the pain ,the anxiety , the ‘I am dying’ feeling, settle. Go beyond it and see what happens. Focusing  and breathing into the pain makes it disappear. Of course you have to be smart enough to understand whether you should be going beyond a particular pain or just exit the posture as your body needs time to get used to this stretch.

The attitude with which you approach an asana also matters, ego ,fear, stubbornness, jealousy, competition  will make you stiff and since we are clearly working with flexibility here ,it becomes difficult. Well there is no one correct formula of approach, attitude wise ,for asanas as what may work for me may not work for you and the best way to determine whats working for you is to observe your body on the mat. Be with your body . our mind wandering while we hold a posture is a very regular phenomenon for all of us . what I do to tackle this issue is keep rotating my attention from one part of the body to another ,the ones involved in holding and /or stretched  and then to my breath and back to the body. For example ,for bhujangasana , prepare by lying in the base position, take couple of deep breaths then inhaling extend your body forward opening your chest and trying to reach the back of your head towards the feet. Now while holding see how your breath is , then take the attention to corrections …elbows close to the body, shoulders relaxed, feet together ,back to your breath, heals touching if possible, lower abdomen on the mat, then back to your breath …well before you know its time to exit the pose.  Now slowly lowering your body as you went up with exhalation . this is a good way to approach a pose at an entry level so that the mind remains with the body . with practice of course one can mediate in a pose and hold longer.

once you are comfortable in the holding part and confident that the mind wandering can be managed, closing your eyes , concentrating on a focal point like your eyebrow center or any other part of the body that needs to be worked in that particular asana can take your experience of that asana to the next level. whats there to lose, next time on the mat JUST try!