Namaskar - Oct 09

Yoga 101
From Body to Mind
Allen Fu
For most practitioners yoga starts off as a physical exercise. So
how do these postures help us be calmer, happier people?
Here are a few simple examples of the connection between
body and mind.
ACTION & REACTION
Have you ever been scolded for accidentally stepping on someone’s
feet? Or have you been praised by your boss for doing a great job at
work? Everything we do creates a reaction we enjoy or suffer from.
Similarly when performing asana like Adho Mukha Svanasana
(downward facing dog), if we step our feet further back than usual
we feel more weight on our shoulders and if we shave a closer step,
we feel more weight in our legs.
Through our yoga practice we learn to observe our actions and the
fruits they yield.
DISTRACTION
When performing balancing poses like Vrksasana (tree pose), we
may be easily distracted by
others, especially when the one
in front of you can not hold the
pose firmly. When they fall you
also fall. By finding a point in
front of you (not another
practitioner) to focus on can
help to still your mind. Light on
the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
(I.13, page 59) “tatra sthitau
yatnah abhyasah” continuously
practice in effort to still
fluctuations in mind and attain a
steady mind.
Through this we learn to keep
our own dristi instead of being
distracted by those around us.
EGO
Asana can be physically exciting,
especially balancing postures like
Adho Mukha Vrksasana
JONAS WESTRING, HANDSTAND IN
(handstand) and can be an egobooster.
We often compare our
LOTUS
performance with others and
even judge others. But comparing and judging rarely help us get
better at these challenging postures. In fact it’s usually once we can
still our minds, that we start to feel the improvement. Light on the
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (I.2, page 46-48) “yogah chittavritti nirodhah”
says whatever form of yoga is being practiced, it is the fundamental
purpose for the practice to eliminate mental agitations and
emotional reactions.
When practicing asanas, we learn how to put aside our external egodriven
motivation in favour of a quieter internally-focused mind.
BALANCE
Most of us are not balanced on both sides. We may be stronger on
our right side and weaker on our left. We can turn our head or twist
our spine farther in one direction than the other. We can cross our
legs with the right leg on top, but not the left. We can bend forward
with ease but not backward.
Practicing yoga helps increase symmetry throughout our whole
body. Asana like Tadasana (mountain pose) requires balance of our
body weight on the feet and with equal power between the left and
right, front and back, and the upper and lower
parts of our body.
Through practicing this asana we discover that
unless our mind concentrated yet at ease, we
cannot balance in this asana.
Allen is a certified personal fitness trainer and has
attended yoga teacher training in Hong Kong and
India.
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