Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

4. Thus, with these two aspects there can be a lot of variables.
For example, using or not using the breath in Āsana
practice can be either a voluntary or involuntary aspect.
Thus, if you are not used to using the breath in an Āsana
and its quality is affected involuntarily, then we must apply
a voluntary action to improve or sustain the quality of the breath.
Or, if we are used to using the breath, the way we use it
can become fixed and unchanging – an involuntary effect.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

3. Also, certain steps have to be taken to avoid, anticipate
or compensate for the effects of the involuntary response.
This means certain steps have to be taken to consider the
voluntary intention and a potentially involuntary response.
From this, we can evolve certain suggestions with regard
to anticipating potentially unconscious practice patterns.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

2. Thus, this means these effects can also apply to our
attitudes whilst working habitually in a particular Āsana.
For example, an involuntary response as a result of memory.
So we can have a blindness, in that we are unaware of the
position of the arms, legs, or body, as well as in our attitude.
Thus, we need to at least apply movements voluntarily
in our efforts to influence the qualities of the Āsana.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

1. As well as the consideration around the use of
Āsana dynamically or statically, there is also,
depending on our background to Āsana practice,
the voluntary effort and the involuntary effects.

According to the impact of this in the background,
certain voluntary intentions can, often unconsciously,
trigger certain involuntary, multilevelled responses.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

12. Finally, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the psychological ideal of remaining there.
According to the definition in  Chapter Three verse 2 of
the Yoga Sūtra, a continuity of psychic activity is the ideal.
This is seen as the ability to stay, as if in the same moment, as
one moment melds into the next moment and the next moment.
In other words, the ability to internally maintain a continuity of
experience as if maintaining an apparent stillness of movement.
Access to such subtle states requires a containment of movement
that ultimately extends from the body to the breath to the mind.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

11. Furthermore, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the concepts of Dhāraṇā and Dhyānam.
Dynamic is the effort to move the activities of the mind,
as well as of the body, in one direction as in Dhāraṇā.
The observations from dynamic work also allow us to see
the role or appropriateness or subtlety of static work.
Here static can be considered as the holding of the mind,
as well as of the body, in one direction as in Dhyānam.
As Dhāraṇā precedes Dhyānam in terms of directing the
activities of the mind, so dynamic work precedes static
work in terms of directing the activities of the body.
So, the quality of the attention within the mind, as well
as the body, is important in helping us to experience the
progressive interrelationship between movement and stasis.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

10. Furthermore, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the fluctuations of the Guṇa.
Ideally, dynamic work is a state of still movement,
rather than a state of active movement, as in Rajas.
Equally, static work is a state of bright stasis,
rather than a state of dull stasis, as in Tamas.
Thus, in relation to the Guṇa, the application
of both movement and stasis in Āsana need to be
appropriately supported by a quality of Sattva.
As in a quality of stillness within dynamic work
and a quality of brightness within static work.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

9. Furthermore, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the dual concepts of Sthira and Sukham.
Dynamic can be too much effort, as in overly Sthira,
and Static can be too relaxing, as in overly Sukham.
Thus, the use of movement and stasis in Āsana needs
to consider how to correlate these two qualities, namely
that of steady attentiveness with that of spacious clarity.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

8. Furthermore, the consideration of the roles of
movement and stasis can be further developed through
Krishnamacharya’s teachings on application of Āsana.
For example, whether for circulation or for purification,
within both structural and/or systemic roles for Āsana.
Regarding circulation, or what he called Rakta Calana.
When you want to activate the circulation you move.
Regarding cleansing, or what he called Śarīra Śodhana.
When you want to activate a purificatory process you stay.
Both presume there is competent access to the breath,
working access to the concepts of Prāna, Apāna and Agni,
and experience of how to direct the breath in the spine.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions