Asana and Hierarchy

By practicing yoga, we are not working towards some mythical day when suddenly the scoliosis is gone and the spine is perfectly straight, but instead towards a feeling of ease with our bodies. A revolution within the body occurs as we focus on remediation rather than cure. We must begin to release the muscles that have become so tight and painful over years of making so much effort to stand up straight, and use the extension of the exhalation to open the body and bring new life to the spine.

When it comes to asana practice there may well be need for modification in some of the postures for a student with scoliosis to get the most out of yoga. However, it is important to remember that a modified posture is no less beneficial than practicing the full posture. Too much emphasis is often placed on achieving the "perfect" asana at all costs, with no thought to the fact that all our bodies are different and what may be good for one person may be nigh on impossible for another. The asana practice itself is merely one of the eight limbs of Patanjali's yoga and a stepping stone to achieving Samadhi, it is not so much the posture itself as the mindset behind the posture, getting into the posture and leaving the posture (all of which aspects including Samadhi will be examined later in this blog). It is therefore important to remember not to regard yoga asana with any sense of hierarchy. Just as a very flexible, strong student should not look down upon those unable to do full posture, a student with postural or skeletal difficulties should not feel inferior in any way in the presence of those to whom asana practice comes easily.

It does not matter what kind of shape your body is in when you start your practice. Just having a body - being alive - is sufficient qualification for doing yoga.
-- Total Yoga - Tara Fraser (Duncan Baird Publishing 2001 - p.28)

Asana practice is one step of yoga; it is just as important to cultivate stillness, compassion and deep yogic breathing (which I will discuss further at a later stage). It is also important to release the temptation of rushing ahead into a posture we are not ready for, but instead to listen to our bodies and work within our own personal limitations and capabilities.

...if we are to be complete human beings we must incorporate allaspects of ourselves, and do so step by step
-- The Heart of Yoga - TKV Desikachar (Inner Traditions International 1999 - p.7)