Every pose in yoga has a direct effect on your physical and mental body, and most importantly your central nervous system. Some postures simply build strength, while others allow the body to become more flexible. A master of yoga knows this. A yogi master knows when students are anxious, and teaches a sequence to combat these feelings. A yogi also can teach a sequence for a grumpy back, a sore knee or even a broken heart. A yogi knows that if you show up, do the prescribed asanas or postures, that eventually the hurts will heal, and the mental state will become steady and serene.
Too often the asanas or postures become an egotistic goal. There is nothing wrong in progressing in your asana practice, and one should feel a certain sense of pride of simply showing up week after week, and doing the work. It’s when you want to do a arm balance to impress your fellow yogi’s, or show your kids that you can stand on your hands, that the asana becomes egotistic. This can come and bite us further down the road with falls, or more injuries.
The real reason of the postures is to become comfortable in a seated meditation posture and learn to BE with your thoughts. When you sit for awhile, and your hips scream at you to get up, or your low back starts to ache, the energy of the body, the wellness of the organs is not balanced. Yes, each organ has an energy line that feeds that organ/tissue. If somewhere on that line is tight, the organ will not be balanced, and is at risk for dis “EASE” later in life. This is how asana keeps us healthy.
For instance lets look at the spiral line of the body. A vitally important line to keep balanced. When the Spiral line has an issue, most of your body will be influenced. These influences are not always obvious at first. By the time most of you notice the nagging low back pain, radiating hip pain, TMJ issues or neck pain the spiral line will have many areas that need to be addressed. By this time, there will be a group of myofascia involved. It is most probable that the first signs were too subtle to notice.
A spiral line can be felt in pigeon pose, seated hero pose, revolved triangle pose to name a few. If this energy of the spiral line becomes stuck, stagnant or tight, issues such as ankle pain, edema, or swelling due to arthritis, cold feet, kidney disfunction, water filtration, difficulties regarding urination, urinary incontinence, poor circulation, peripheral vascular disease, limited range of knee, sciatica, hip pain, knee pain or constipation can arise.
That is why we do a yoga practice. Keep your body moving, healthy, and thriving.
See you on the mat,
Paula
