The element of compromise in the body

6. We can either respect our limits and
accommodate them, or else overwork
them and risk creating a need to rectify.
This is where the idea of using the same
Āsana practice all the time has limitations.

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Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

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

The element of compromise in the body

5. If you are doing the same Āsana practice,
over a long period of time,
it is not the same, because it becomes a habit.
In this, it can have a different effect to what is required.
Thus, when you design an Āsana practice for
a long period you should be very careful.
In this situation perhaps accommodate a
compromise and build in a safety factor.

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The element of compromise in the body

4. It is usually the teacher that initially
observes the escape, rather than the
area of the body where the mind is.
This is another example of an
involuntary, as in unconscious, response
to a voluntary, as in conscious, movement.
Thus, for example, in Āsana what we try
to do can have different responses:
Such as what we want to happen,
and  what we don’t want to happen.
If voluntary intentions produce
involuntary responses, then you can
lose touch with what is happening.

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The element of compromise in the body

3. This also applies that, as a teacher,
we should be aware of the student’s limitations.
These are variables according to the person,
as well as the climate, the environment, etc.
They are not constant and neither are the effects.
This compromise can react in many ways.
For example:
You put your mind in one place during
an Āsana, the body compensates
and places the escape elsewhere.

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The element of compromise in the body

2. Thus, the body tells us something but,
we are not always aware of what it is.
This can be the result of factors in one’s life.
For example, age, profession, activities.
And, as said, it can often show in ways we cannot see.
For example, position of feet, tension in face,
position of hands, angle of shoulders, angle of arms.
So we must respect our limitations as well as our assets.

Link to Series: 108 Yoga Planning Pointers

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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The element of compromise in the body

1. Working with safety factors brings
in another factor to consider.
This is the element of compromise in the body.
This is often something you don’t see.
For example, an involuntary movement
of the head in Sarvāṅgāsana.

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We must also consider the safety factors

3. For example Viparīta Padmāsana could
be approached by working dynamically
from Ardha Padma Sarvāṅgāsana
into Ardha Padma Halāsana. This would
ascertain the ability to work into and with
Padmāsana in an inverted Āsana such as Śīrṣāsana.
Thus, any Āsana practice must allow for certain
safety factors, so we are able to work with respect
and regard for the individual involved and yet
retain consideration of and for the safety factors.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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We must also consider the safety factors

2. For example, we have Śīrṣāsana and Padmāsana.
Because of being able to do these Āsana a
person wants to do Padmāsana in Śīrṣāsana,
exploring an Āsana known as Viparīta Padmāsana.
However one has to know the factors involved.
One cannot assume that because two things
are possible, a third will follow automatically.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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We must also consider the safety factors

1. Along with creating a situation for ‘new’ responses to occur,
any guidelines must also consider the safety factor.
This is helped by being able to distinguish characteristics
between say Bhujaṅgāsana and Paścimatānāsana.
Thus an elementary knowledge of what happens
in the body is required, along with consideration
of prerequisites and appropriate Pratikriyāsana.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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A third factor, that of Respect for Responses

6. Āsana are not automatic but can become so.
The inevitability of voluntary actions is that we
get used to them and they become involuntary.
With this, the risk factor is increased as well.
So what is voluntary and what is involuntary is
completely different when there is a ‘new’ response.

However, such a response needs to be linked to
something deeper than just merely a ‘tweaking’,
or ‘inventive’ variation within the form of the body.

Given, that in Yoga the breath is that which gives life.
By cultivating a role for, and the purpose of the breath,
we are creating and re-creating a situation for, not just new,
but also more subtle responses to occur and reoccur.

Within this field for enhancing awareness,
through our relationship with the breath,
the risk factor is reduced as well.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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A third factor, that of Respect for Responses

5. We must consider our waking posture,
which is usually standing or sitting.
Thus, we have a gap from this to
the main Āsana we intend to use.

How can we bridge this gap from everyday
postures to Āsana, in terms of form and function?
Principles of practice are means to bridge the
gaps according to place, time and circumstances.

Here, we can cultivate steps towards being
able to access an Āsana with a conscious
composure, remaining awake within it
and maintaining a respect for responses.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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A third factor, that of Respect for Responses

4. So Āsana are considered as voluntary phenomena,
like writing with your opposite hand.
Thus, it is an action which requires conscious control.

However, when you are used to going from everyday
postures to Yoga Āsana they become automatic in use.
Thus, they become involuntary.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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A third factor, that of Respect for Responses

3. Voluntary,
as in controlled action
and involuntary,
as in action or reaction
without conscious control,
have both positive and negative aspects.
For example, a person who has a particular
problem would seemingly come voluntarily.
However, their reaction in response to
what we ask them to do may be involuntary.
So we have to consider a person’s responses.
As in, what are and what are not
acceptable responses when we travel
from everyday postures to Yoga Āsana.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

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A third factor, that of Respect for Responses

2. Responses should be looked at according to
the psychological attitude of the individual.
We need to consider what is the end
and what are the means.
This is also seen as cause and effect.
The responses to the voluntary action
should be considered as a safety valve.
All this assumes we have respect for the individual and
the individual has or develops respect for themselves.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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A third factor, that of Respect for Responses

1. There is also a third factor besides the relationship
between voluntary efforts and involuntary effects,
namely a person’s response to the notion of effort and effect.
In the travel from our everyday postures to Yoga postures
we need to consider respect for the idea of responses.
We can often ignore the body’s response to our efforts
within our aims and intentions for ideals, such as in Āsana.
Voluntary efforts and involuntary effects are the variables.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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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
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Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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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
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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
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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
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Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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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