Yoga as Therapeutic Exercise: A Practical Guide for Manual Therapists

7

Chapter

Selected āsanas for integrating

the aims and principles

Introduction

The basic exercises teach us mindfulness, awareness,

precision of movement, and postures of the different

areas of the body. They give many details on how to

position and move in a healthy way. Each basic exer-

cise helps to achieve one or more intended aims. This

approach is also essential for performing the āsanas.

The classical āsanas are very useful to integrate these

basic details and aims into more complex, functional

tasks. Performing the āsanas also goes deeper into

mindful exercising and all stages of yoga. The other

principles – variety, economical practice, precision,

finetuning – are also followed during their practice.

First the gross outer movements are learned, and

then with increasing practice the inner, conscious

movements are further refined.

As we saw in Chapter 1, a dedicated practice of

āsanas can include all other stages of yoga, such as

yama, niyama, asana, prā ̄āyāma, pratyāhara, dhā ̄raā,

dhyāna, and samādhi. The ultimate aim of yoga is

the union of the human with the divine, the individ-

ual soul with the universal soul. Health is a byprod-

uct of practice, and a very important one (Iyengar

2002a). As described in Chapter 1, pratyāhāra, the

fifth stage of the eightfold yoga path, is essential

to prepare for the depth of practice of the āsanas.

To achieve the inner movements during āsana

practice, distractions of the senses, the organs of

perception, must lessen and finally stop. The con-

centration and calmness needed to achieve this

can be learned through breathing and listening (see

Chapter 2) or the experience of subtle breathing

Chapter contents

Introduction 151

Selected āsanas 154

Combinations and sequencing of asanas ̄ 221