7
CHAPTER
SITTING POSES
F
or many people in the industrialized world, sitting (or, more likely, slouching) on a piece
of furniture is the body position in which they spend most of their waking hours. What
shoes are to the feet, chairs, car seats, and couches are to the pelvic joints and lower spine.
In yoga practice, just as the bare feet develop a new relationship with the ground through
the practice of standing asanas, the hips, pelvic joints, and lower spine develop a new
relationship with the earth through bearing weight directly on them in sitting postures.
The asanas depicted in this chapter are either sitting positions themselves or are entered
into from sitting. If practiced with attention to the anatomy of the relevant joints, muscles,
and connective tissue, they can help to restore some of the natural fl exibility that people
had in childhood, when sitting and playing on the fl oor for hours at a time was effortless.
Beyond the idea of restoring natural function to the pelvis and lower back, yogic sitting
also has an association with more advanced practices. The word asana, in fact, can be
literally translated as “seat,” and from a certain perspective, all of asana practice can be
viewed as a methodical way of freeing up the spine, limbs, and breathing so that the yogi
can spend extended periods of time in a seated position. In this most stable of upright body
shapes, many of the distractions of dealing with gravity and balance can disappear, freeing
the body’s energies for the deeper contemplative work of meditative practices.