The Perfect Pose

It is important to remember that yoga, as we know it today, with such emphasis on Asana, on the “perfect pose,” is a relatively new phenomenon. With the widespread use of images in social media demonstrating the perfect yoga pose and some glossy magazines, we can easily fall for the desire to look a certain way.
It is about the pose, the yoga mat, and the yoga clothes. Do you have it perfect?

As it has been practiced for thousands of years, Yoga Asana is mostly about taking a seat in the lotus position to meditate. In the early 1900s, more elaborate poses developed, and thanks to Krishnamacharya, many of these poses started to become more widespread through him and some of his students, such as BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and his son Desikachar.

Beyond the Eastern classic yoga poses, the poses from India have undergone a further transformation, as teachers in the West brought in their skills from dance, gymnastics, martial arts, or other personal preferences. This is wonderful because nothing is static, surely not yoga.

The Yoga Teachings are alive and keep transforming. 

Looking at the original goal of yoga, of controlling the mind, mastering it, and eventually transcending it to achieve kaivaliah – freedom. Freedom from the ego control of the mind, freedom from our conditioning that triggers automated responses rather than fresh, conscious actions. Yoga shows us how to live an ethical life with the right choices that lead us to a sustainable existence, supporting a healthy self and healthy world, as our actions would be conscious and supportive of non-harm.

Yoga aims to develop ease in posture and cease mind fluctuations. We must observe what we practice and how we do it. I love doing fancy poses. Inversions are empowering, and arm balances are just great fun, but how you practice and the purpose of the practice make the difference. Asana and creative poses are fun and healthy as long as we take them for what they are.

The perfect pose is a pose that is held with grace, ease, steady, and firmness

A perfect pose has the practitioner dissolve into it

It is like the asana doer, and the asana become one

Yoga is not a fashion show. We do not need to look like a cover model of Yoga Journal or a social media image. Furthermore, the models themselves don;t look like that in everyday life. The beauty of the images on social media and magazines and how poses are presented serve as inspirations—a way to see what a “perfect” pose would look like. Then, we must take that and find how it can be perfect for our bodies—for our bodies, in that specific time and place, as we are different every day.

Beautiful Yoga Imagery is an opportunity to feel delight in human potential!

Smile – they are part of your species!

Practice accepting and gratefulness for wherever you are right now. That is the only place you can indeed be. When you allow the mind to be fully focused, dropping any distractions of the senses, you slowly dissolve into mindful meditation. 

Share the Perfection

Do you sometimes get led astray by other people’s practices or your idea of what your practice should be?

Leave us a comment and let us know how you deal with it! Share this article with some friends and see if you can start a discussion!

Come and join us for teacher training; whatever your pose looks like, you’re welcome at Doron Yoga.

Find more information on asanas and the history of yoga in the Doron Yoga Manual,

a complete guide to everything you need to know about yoga!

Blissful Living,

Doron