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

Even these poses from India have gone through further transformation, as teachers in the west brought in their skills, from dance, gymnastics, martial arts or other personal preferences. All this is wonderful as nothing is static, surely not yoga. The teachings are alive and keep transforming. However, looking at the original goal of yoga, of union of mind body and soul, or finding freedom, developing ease in posture, and ceasing the fluctuations of the mind, it is important that we observe what and how we practice. 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 are what 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, with ease, steady and firm. 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, nor do the models themselves look like that in everyday life. The beauty of yoga Journal and the way it presents poses and yoga is a great inspiration. A way to see how a “perfect” pose would look like. Then, it is important for us to take that and find how it can be perfect for OUR body. For our body in that specific time and place, as every day we may be different.

Practice with acceptance, and with gratitude to wherever you are right now. That is the only place you can truly be. When you allow the mind to be fully focused, dropping any distractions of the senses, you slowly dissolve into a form of mindful meditation. 

Share the Perfection

Do you sometimes get led astray by other people’s practice 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 a yoga retreat or teacher training, whatever your pose looks like you’re welcome at the Doron Yoga & Zen Center.

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