08/03/2026
/Sumitra
~
Let’s flip the script for those who habitually present advanced āsana practice as some kind of defect.
If you have received proper training within a legitimate paramparā, you would understand that āsana is never merely āsana. It is a vessel for subtle and complex internal practices—an external framework through which specific pratyayas, vāyu granthis, and ūrjās (functional expressions of kuṇḍalinī within the physical aspect of the subtle body) are accessed and cultivated. You cannot engage these ūrjās without activating certain āsanas and the mental faculties that regulate them.
The ability to perform an āsana may therefore indicate the capacity to utilize these ūrjās properly. In that sense, it serves as practical evidence. This does not mean that every circus-like display of physical culture proves anything—the same posture can be executed in countless ways.
Every cause produces an observable effect. If you cannot demonstrate in practice what you claim to understand, then talking about kuṇḍalinī and other subtle mechanisms is empty rhetoric.
Saying “that’s not yoga” or “yoga is not just āsana” is not an argument. Negation is not proof. You do not understand because you cannot perform the āsana, and you do not understand because you lack access to the corresponding internal practices. If one or both are missing, you should think twice before teaching āsana or labeling it as a defect.
Do not confuse criticism with understanding. And do not let envy masquerade as insight.
~
