This entry was posted on Dec 31, 2024 by Charlotte Bell.
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about how to simplify your yoga cues. If you’ve ever been in a yoga class where the cues were coming at you fast and furiously, you may know how confusing it can be. I love hearing teachers explain practice in ways I’d never imagined. But sometimes constant cueing can leave no space for our own exploration. Yoga cues are very important, for students’ safety and for their growth. But if I could only give one yoga cue in my classes it would be this: Relax into where you are.
A Yoga Cue for Mastery of Asana Practice
This yoga cue aligns with Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Of the 196 yoga sutras, these three are concerned with asana practice (as translated by Alistair Shearer):
- 2.46: The physical posture should be steady and comfortable.
- 2.47: It is mastered when all effort is relaxed and the mind is absorbed in the Infinite.
- 2.48: Then we are no longer upset by the play of opposites.
In Sutra 2.46, we learn that asana is a practice of balance—balancing stability and ease. The third niyama, tapas (inner fire) inspires us to be steady in our commitment, and strong and stable in our expression of the poses. But we balance this with a sense of ease, never pushing ourselves to the point of pain or struggle.
Balancing these two qualities opens the door to mastery. What Sutra 2.47 tells us is that mastery of asana has nothing to do with pushing our bodies to the max, or practicing “advanced” poses. Mastery arrives when we are able to relax into where we are. When we are able to relax into a pose just as it is—regardless of what it may look like from the outside—our minds and bodies become one. We become absorbed in the ever-changing sensations arising in each moment of a pose.
Our ability to rest in each moment of each pose, no matter what sensations happen to be arising, yields the most life-changing benefit of asana practice. Sutra 2.48 states that when we have mastered asana in this way, we are able to navigate the ups and downs of our lives with more grace.
Intentions for a New Year
I’ve often said when we’re practicing a seated forward bend in my classes, “Enlightenment doesn’t come from touching your head to your knee. Relax into where you are.” Of course, that doesn’t mean instant enlightenment will happen when we relax into our poses just as they are. But perhaps, for a few moments, we can touch into our inner resource of calm and peace when we allow ourselves to simply be in our poses without judgment or ambition. We can shift from the realm of doing to the realm of being.
Practicing asana in this way can help us cultivate a habit of relaxing into where we are in other areas of our lives. We all experience pleasant and unpleasant experiences in our lives. Peace doesn’t come from avoiding the unpleasant experiences; it comes from meeting them with both stability and clarity. When we practice this yoga cue on the mat, it becomes a skill we can access off the mat.
As we head into a new year, may you relax into where you are right now. May you cultivate stability and ease and enjoy the pleasures of simply being.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. Her third book is titled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Guide to Protecting the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly column for CATALYST Magazine and serves as editor for Yoga U Online. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte plays oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and folk sextet Red Rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy awards.
