07/02/2022
One romanticized notion propagated through Yoga (asana) books in recent times is that the ancient Yogis, who were forest dwellers, created āsana by looking at animals doing “stretches”.
I feel notions like these trivialize the intellectual depth of traditional Yogis.
Yes, āsana have surely been named after animals, both, real & mythical - but thats because its a cultural convention of naming. I mean, so many āsana have been named after Sages, deities, natural elements & even mundane objects - what about them? How do we factor them in?
Saying that the traditional āsana are “animal inspired body stretches” makes us ignore the subtle wisdom that the ancient Yogis had mastered.
Āsana (like Pranayama, Bandha & Mudra) are highly complex physical, pranic & psychological manipulations that help align & (re)direct Prana (life force).
Traditional Hatha āsana are a product of ancient Yogis' holsitic understand of human person, explorations of Pranic (vital) movements, experimentations over generations & humility of passing it to the next generation.
We know how complex, intricate & sophisticated the Ayurvedic models of anatomy & physiology are. The Yogis used the same, or similar models. These models may not always agree with modern scientific views, but that doesn't discount their scholarship.
Reductionist narratives like these have made generations of modern Yogis look at āsana merely as “body stretches”. Such a view limits the scope of Yogic practices to a superficial, physical level, shutting us off from exploring our deeper dimensions.
By Prasad Rangnekar
