What Does Asana Mean in Yoga?

Moving and experiencing your body in a physical space is extremely important, not just for your physical well-being, but for your spiritual well-being too. Through certain practices, specifically the practice of yoga, you can meditate, and through movement in the physical realm, you can gain a closer experience with a spiritual higher power. One such way of doing this is through the use of different asanas in your yoga practices.

Directly translated to mean ‘seat’ in Sanskrit, asana generally refers to the seated meditation pose that yogis assume. However, asana may also refer to the different physical positions or poses that one assumes during yoga practices to reach the highest spiritual stage of yoga – samadhi.

While it may refer to the physical aspect of yoga, it can also describe one single and specific pose, whether it is your favorite pose or your most challenging one. Here we will explore the various aspects of asana and what benefits it may provide to you both physically and spiritually.

Asana in Different Types of Yoga

Within yoga practices, there are two ways in which asana is used. The first is through hatha yoga practice. This is a slower form of yoga practice whereby each asana, or pose, is held for a longer period of time. In holding the position, you can focus on your breathing, stretching your body within the physical space, and on practicing greater control of your movements.

Hatha yoga is also a wonderful way to follow a guided meditation by your yoga class instructor, bringing you closer to your desired spiritual state.

Alternatively, within vinyasa yoga practices, the asanas are more fluid with a consistent flow from one position to the next. Your breathing is linked to the constant motion of the body, and it is a greater and more intense physical practice for the body.

Within multiple belief systems, some asanas are better at getting you closer to the final stage of yoga, being samadhi. These asanas include the lotus pose, the adept’s pose, the lion’s pose, and the gracious pose.

What is the Purpose of Asana?

Since the dawn of time, age-old belief systems have focused on achieving a greater spirituality. There have been many practices that have been formed over time to help human beings achieve and reach a greater power than the physical world has to offer.

It has consistently been believed that we are designed for a greater purpose, by a greater being, and that our sole purpose in life is to find our way and our path back to that higher being. With this goal in mind, spiritual leaders began focusing on intense meditation, which often achieved a spiritual awakening, but that required a stillness and a quietness that was often fleeting and unattainable in the chaos of life.

In the hope to maintain longer periods of stillness in intense meditation, the practice of yoga and different asanas were used to improve flexibility, strength, and balance, lubricating the joints and the spine, and creating a space within meditation that allows the body to align with the intentions of the mind and soul.

How Asanas can Help You Reach Samadhi

Samadhi is achieved when you as an individual reach your highest state of consciousness. This can be done through intense meditation and through the aid of yoga. Samadhi means reaching a place of unnatural peace and making contact with a higher, spiritual realm.

By engaging in yoga, through the use of different asanas, one can reach samadhi, the highest and ultimate stage within the practice of yoga.

Through a different analogy, one can view yoga as the vehicle which transports you to samadhi. Different forms of asanas are the roads or pathways that you employ, and samadhi is the destination that you desire to reach.

Which Asanas are Best for Beginners?

As with any task that one may undertake in the physical realm, it takes work and practice to achieve the ultimate desired state. Whether that desired state is heightened spirituality or physical health, the practice of yoga and learning different asanas are important and will prove beneficial provided it is done correctly and with patience.

For each different purpose, there are different asanas that can be used. For beginners who seek yoga as a means of experiencing and embracing the movement of their bodies, the best yoga asanas would include poses such as the mountain pose, downward-facing dog, the plank pose, and the cobra pose.

A yoga instructor can guide these asanas, and they can help you achieve both the ideal form of each asana, as well as your desired physical state.

If you are pursuing a higher level of fitness, there are other asanas that may be best suited to you. Perhaps you have experience in the practices of yoga, and you are hoping to increase your existing fitness level rather than just establish it. In such cases, more challenging asanas may be pursued.

These asanas or positions include the boat pose, the head-to-toe pose, the half spinal pose, and the plank pose, among others.

Asanas for a Greater or Increased Spirituality

If you are pursuing spirituality and your goal is to elevate your spiritual experiences, kundalini yoga poses are the best asanas for you. Kundalini yoga practice provides you with the best spiritual elevation in that it combines the asanas with breathing, chanting, and singing in particular patterns that lead to a spiritual awakening.

As with any spiritual awakening, you need to be certain that it is what you wish to pursue as the awakening is guaranteed to change your life forever.

Conclusion

The practice of asana in yoga comes with a vast number of benefits. Whether you employ asana practices in yoga for your mind, your body, or your soul, you will unlock the vast greatness that your inner being was destined for. Perhaps, to clearly show us that we are not meant to sit at a desk all day, asana will guide us into a world that awakens our true selves and allows us to entirely pursue our true purpose.