What we did this morning – three-quarters at the beginning when we did the leg stretches and the ankle rotations – this was not classical yoga asanas. This was known as Joints & Glands movements. These are the preparations for classical asanas. We were preparing. Three-quarters was preparation. And then we went into just a few postures: Spinal Twist, Sitting, the Cat, and the Sideways Stretch, etc. The rest was preparation which was needed; otherwise you suffer when you practice asanas. Why do we do it? I want to relate this to what we have practiced.

When we are practicing asanas, we are directing energy in different parts of the body; we are circulating the energy. If you are watering plants at a garden at home with a long hose, you connect the hose to a faucet, and then you open the tap to full power, and the water comes out. But, let’s say at some point in the hose, there is a kink.  You attach one end to the tap and open the tap full power, and the hose bursts because there is a lot of pressure coming, but it cannot go farther.

When we are doing the asanas, we are forcefully directing the energy in a certain direction, especially the people who are doing the intense classical postures combining bandhas and mudras, which makes the energy flow even more powerful. They are pushing energy in a certain direction, but there are blockages in the way. Energy is pushing, but cannot go further.  Inner pressure is created, and it can really create trouble for people.

So, what do we need? A clear passage!  Wherever the joints are in the body, there are not only the physical joints or skeleton joints, but there are many chakras in the body – a finite number of chakras, energy chakra, some are major, some are minor. Wherever we have joints in the body, there are many minor chakras located there. When the energy is blocked there, you cannot go farther. So when we do all the Joints and Glands series – all those movements – we are releasing the energy which is stuck in different regions there. It’s not only the muscles and the joints. It seems that way, but the exercises are done for a different purpose. You are releasing the energy that is stuck there.

When the practice is free, the energy can circulate, and then when you go into the asana, you can direct the energy to wherever you want to direct it – very easy. The blockages are gone. You are freeing those blockages in the energy chakras.

Is it clear?  These movements are not just to warm up. We just use those words: “to warm up,” and it’s working on the muscle level, the ligaments, muscles tissues, joints – no doubt – but the main work is on the energy system.

It’s so beautiful how the yogis describe the body-energy relationship. They never said that there is an energy system in the body, or that there is a nadi system in the body.  You know that the nadis are the subtle channels through which subtle energy flows. What do they say then? They say that the body is arranged around the nadi system. They don’t say that the nadis are in the body. They say that the body is arranged around the nadi system. Why? They were so meticulous. They were so clear. There was no confusion. What came first, the matter or the energy? The energy manifested into a body. So they say the body is arranged around the energy channels – so beautifully mentioned.

We need to understand in yoga science that whereas when people today talk about asanas and say “Oh, this muscle” or “this joint” or “this ligament,” the yogis did not talk about muscles and ligaments and joints. They talked only about different pranas flowing the body, different vayus, and they talked about the energy system. They talked purely about the energy system.

Many teachers do not have an idea of all that, and therefore they just see asana as “this muscle, this bone, this joint” and go more into the physio-therapy direction. If you look around, mainly that has developed. I was sitting with someone, I don’t remember when, but I said that it is so rare to find a proper school of yoga nowadays – so rare!  One has to be very lucky to find someone who has an idea of what it is all about.

Everything — health study, bhakti yoga, breathing practices, asana, mudra, bandha, shakti — everything is designed for what?  For meditation!  It’s all designed just for meditation!

So many people are practicing this and that, and reading and trying and doing a lot, but they are missing the meditation.  What is the use of all of that?  There is so much to study, so much to learn. There are so many sciences there. But if you want to have a shortcut, focus on meditation. You won’t have to spend your time on so many things – because everything are just for that!

But, we are using the body for sitting. There is the breath, which is also a component of meditation. So we need to refine the breath a little bit. We need to learn how to refine the quality of the breath, how to prepare the body. All those basics are needed. But if your focus is on meditation, not too much is needed.

But if you want to become a yoga teacher, fine, then you have to learn a lot. Otherwise it is not too complex.

Editor’s Note:

This is a transcript of a talk by Ashutosh Sharma on 14 February 2019 in Thailand. The video of this talk was posted by Thaniya Kevalee and can be seen by clicking here.