There are many reasons why more and more people practice asana every day. Most of them respond to the search for physical, emotional or mental well-being that increases their quality of life. Truly whoever has done asanas can confirm that the improvement in these aspects is noticed in a short space of time. Perhaps that is why there are more and more people faithful to this practice, but is that all that the asana has to offer us? When we perform this practice we can go beyond the posture, we can go beyond the breath, we can meditate on it, what we call Integral Asana.
Although in the West the part of Yoga that has penetrated the most has been its aesthetic and therapeutic part, we must not forget that Yoga is a spiritual path, that the Yogi is a seeker of “the transcendent” who wants to know the purpose of his heart to be able to realize it in life using each of the opportunities available, Among them the practice of asana.
We observe that Yoga, as a whole, covers the needs of all parts of our Being. Order, heal and balance the physical body with Hatha Yoga. With Bhakti Yoga elevates our emotional state. Through Raja Yoga he works attention, incorporates intuition, as one more sense, and opens our mind to higher states of consciousness. Jnana Yoga provides us with inspiration through reading and study. And Karma Yoga helps us transform ourselves through work in the midst of life.
Hatha Yoga includes a lot of tools and resources that we need to know and practice efficiently. There are different lines that, in their sensitivity, use these tools in different ways. All, in general, work well and meet the needs of different types of people. Some of these lines we live temporarily as transitory stages towards other deeper or transcendent Yogas.
We consider, beyond the line practiced by each one, that at present the Hatha is an essential part in our Sadhana, but not the only one since Yoga is not only Hatha nor the Hatha is all the Yoga. In our view, for Hathayogi, Meditation is an inseparable companion. A good combination of Hatha and Raja make our practice much more holistic, complete and comprehensive. Meditation in the Asana can lead us to Samadhi, the ultimate goal of all Yoga, brings us closer to “the experience with the highest that is within us and the experience of communion with Brahman”. Next, we will see how the Integral Asana fuses the Hatha with the Meditation. THE FOUR LEVELS OF ASANA PRACTICE
In the Asana practice, we believe there are four levels of work. This classification that we present is related to the different physical, respiratory and meditative skills that the practitioner has and not with the degrees of difficulty of the postures since this would be limited to purely physical criteria making the practice something gymnastic. We invite you to observe your work with Asana and place yourself within one of the following levels in order to move on to the next ones.
Basic level: Postural development of the Asana. The practitioner is exclusively oriented in the position, placement and joint and muscular repercussion. The fact that more complex Asanas are performed in their execution does not prevent us from being at a basic level since the objective, at this level of practice, is exclusively linked to the physical and its benefits.
Intermediate level: Pranayama in the Asana. At this level the practitioner already knows what his possibilities and difficulties are. He works from a comfortable limit and is able to integrate Raja Pranayama into any Asana. It is held posturally with comfort breathing calmly without difficulty and without tension. At this level, a minimum in postural domination and previous work with Pranayama are required.
Advanced level: Meditating on Asana. To access this level, Hathayogi practices Meditation separately and has acquired an evident handling with attention moving with it without difficulty. His position as a “conscious observer” in the Asana gives him knowledge about the contents and movements that arise in his surface consciousness. Become aware that each Asana sets in motion different internal states. In the midst of Asana, observe, perceive, and transform.
Asana Integral: occurs when the advanced level is transcended and there is contact with the transcendent, both interior and exterior. This connection occurs spontaneously, not forced, facilitating different degrees of Samadhi.
THE FOUR STEPS TO THE INTEGRAL ASANA.
When we orient ourselves towards the practice of Asana Integral, we begin an ascent through the steps of our Sadhana, creating the conditions for that expected encounter with “the highest” within the practice itself, which marks the main objective of this tool. The key is to transfer the skills we acquire in the training of sitting meditation to the Asana. Among all of them, the mastery over attention will be what will bring us depth at different levels. We will make the attention move orderly during the development of the Asana: it will supervise the physical posture, will pass to the respiratory action in the development of the same and from there to the meditative principle that places us in full consciousness as a conscious observer.
Attention is the vector that provides our individuality with the experience of life and the experience of the transcendent in life. In the Integral Asana we are becoming aware, at all times, of where we place the attention and where we project it. Here are the steps to get to Asana Integral:
- Attention is totally linked to posture with the goal of building, settling and developing the physical part of the Asana.
- Once the Asana is settled in its physical structure, we progressively tilt the bulk of the attention towards the breath in Raja Pranayama, until we feel that it stabilizes and sustains harmoniously, we will leave a part of the attention attending to the physical posture.
- When we feel that the breath in Raja Pranayama has settled, and is harmoniously self-sustaining, we partially withdraw our attention from it by quietly placing ourselves as witnesses in full consciousness, peacefully observing the perceptual space that is naturally created in front of us. We will make, from time to time, a deliberate visit either to the breath or to the organic to confirm that these aspects are still well installed with the aim of redirecting what has been misaligned or simply to grow both postural and respiratory, finally turning attention to the meditative position and making the same arrangements as in a meditative practice sitting in Siddhas Ana. The location as an “observer in full consciousness” allows us to detect the emotional and mental movements that transit in our perceptual space and that may be related to the organic structures involved in the Asana which gives us the opportunity to be worked on in the moment. When we make these efforts, we can say that, really, we are beginning to meditate on the Asana opening the possibility to an inner transformation.
- Remaining so, we take meditation towards its primary objective where, spontaneously, we encounter the experience of Light, Peace, Love and Joy that the moment gives us. Only then can we say that we are doing Asana Integral.
INTEGRAL ASANA AND INTEGRAL YOGA
With Asana Integral we turn a simple posture into a laboratory of inner exploration and a path that brings us closer to the experience of Samadhi.
But the technical part is not enough for the above. The openness and receptivity to the transcendent and the willingness to realize a purpose that goes beyond a personal benefit are indispensable elements in this conception of Yoga as a spiritual way and path.
A path that leads us to the great discovery: the Master, the definitive Master of Yoga, is within us. Not as an allegory, but as a tangible and authentic reality. A path that leads us to discover the truth of who we are and the purpose that our heart wants to realize. That puts us in communion with the forces of life that vibrate in Peace, Love, Truth and Joy. Forces that for the Yogi cease to be a secret becoming a vehicle of them. A channel of Peace so needed in these times, a means that supports that great objective of Integral Yoga “Lower heaven to Earth”.
