Perfect Posture

What is the perfect posture? And how do we achieve it?

In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali defines the perfect posture as a steady and comfortable position, which is achieved when effort and relaxation are balanced.

In our culture, although people do often need motivation to exert effort, it seems that our biggest challenge is to relax. Achieving the perfect posture is a combination of these two principles - effort and relaxation.

When we struggle in a posture, we feel unsteady, shaky, stiff, anxious, uncomfortable or in pain. These sensations are felt in the body, in the mind and are expressed in the breathing.

When the teacher gives instructions, but at the same time we are struggling with unfamiliar positions and sensations, perhaps we are upside down and cannot even translate left and right, up and down, let alone the anatomical terms that are being spoken about, it often just increases our discomfort and confusion and stress.

This is where helping hands can be so helpful and reassuring. When the teacher adjusts you in the posture, you do not have to think, you do not have to translate anything, you just have to relax. Once you can experience the way the posture could feel, everything falls into place.

In the first place, the teacher can stabilize the body and make the effort for you, so that you can just relax and be with the experience of the pose. Then as the teacher gradually steps away she can communicate what effort you have to make to stay in the pose.

On the one hand, one needs to use just the right amount of effort, and at the same time, just the right amount of relaxation to attain the posture. On the other hand, certain muscles need to be engaged and others need to be totally relaxed in order to achieve it. So, beyond the amount of effort and the amount of relaxation you need to consider, it is also a question of selective effort and relaxation - where you need to work and where you need to let go - which muscles need to contract and which ones need to relax.

Of course, there are levels of subtlety that are specific to the type of posture, the type of challenge experienced, the specific body type etc.. What does it mean to engage a muscle? Is it always the same? What does it mean to relax a muscle? And beyond this, there is the whole body/mind experience that transcends the focus on specific joints, muscles, fascia, sensations etc..

So a teacher also has to communicate a certain energy - calmness, clarity, confidence, gentleness, support, compassion etc..

Adjustments can perform several functions - as students we are looking for ideal alignment (not perfect alignment according to some ideal, but ideal position for the individual body) - we are looking for depth and we are looking to discover the best way to get there. So the end result is one thing and getting there is something else.

Adjustments can take the student into the posture - the assistant can observe from outside what would be a better position - the adjustment can give the student a sense of confidence and relaxation that allows them to get deeper - the adjustment can help the student release certain tensions in the body/mind that are not necessarily directly related to the posture itself.

Learning how to give adjustments is thus an invaluable skill for teachers, and learning through receiving adjustments is an invaluable learning experience for students. These workshops are highly valuable both for students and for teachers.

The workshops follow the Mysore Style principle - working on one posture at a time, with repetition and depth - looking at different body types and needs and slowly moving on to the next.

Quality not quantity is the mantram. But we will aim to cover all the postures that are normally adjusted in the Ashtanga Primary Series over four days. Adjustment practice is backed up and deepened through daily Mysore practice, in which students are adjusted by Guy.

THE ART of GIVING and RECEIVING ADJUSTMENTS
 Workshop in Karkur - July 20-23

More information: https://www.integralashtanga.com/

"The repetition of adjustments rapidly deepened my own practice. I guestimate that we each received about 30-50 adjustments a day (about 720 adjustments during the workshop). That could be equal to or more than the number I’ve received the last 18 months. (!) This was the most valuable aspect of the workshop for me...

...It was very beneficial and generous of you to demonstrate adjustments again, and again and again if needed. There are many possible adjustments and you were emphasizing a certain style. It became apparent you see a hierarchy of asanas that are most important to adjust." - Katherine

guy donahaye16 July 2023