To research this blog I flicked through quite a few yoga books, and not many of them even used the word alignment! But they did set out the cues to position the body in each pose, some in extensive detail. So how we position our bodies in each pose, or asana, appears to be important in Yoga…..
Let me share with you some thought provoking quotes I pulled from a couple of books:
“Paying attention to detail brings precision in the postures. Precision leads to perfection & truth. Truth is divinity. Being observant trains the inner eye to see the subtle movements within the body. As practice becomes more accurate, the body responds with pointers to further refinements. In this way practice is filled with the light of understanding, and clarity in Yoga is attained”.
“The standing poses also teach the principles of correct movement. This is fundamental for the postures & also in everyday life, where they develop awareness of the right way to sit, stand & walk.”
“Precision is essential. Even small inaccuracies in lining up create distortions in the posture…Accurancy in the postures is developed through working carefully…… To develop energy & to combat laziness, the postures would be done dynamically, with full extension of the limbs & trunk. Working with effort does not mean working with tension, & it’s important to learn how to stay relaxed”.
“Advancement in Hatha Yoga is an extremely internal process for each student. It is much more important for students to learn how to recognize areas of tension & weakness within their own body so they can work on ways to tailor an asana to their needs as opposed to striving for what they think the pose should look like.
A correctly executed asana is one that resonates or maintains range of motion & functional postural strength. If enough awareness & control of the body & mind are engaged, not only will injuries be prevented but also the normal processes of aging can be minimized.
Everyone’s ideal posture will look different.
Guide students into finding the perfection of a posture within themselves not outside of themselves - to help them feel the grace of their own bodies.”
Now let me tell you a bit about my journey to understand alignment.
Alignment for me is how we position our bodies in the asana. And the simplest way to ‘see’ if we’re doing that ‘correctly’ is to look at how we look in a pose & compare it to a picture, another yogi, or the teacher.
As part of our training as teachers we’re taught how to look at someone in a pose, & give them verbal cues or hands on adjustment to adjust them closer to the ‘look’ of the pose. To find that ‘correct’ alignment.
Why? So we could help them advance their practice, or avoid injury.
And when I first learnt Yoga from a book, I would see the picture of the pose, then read the ‘building blocks’ for the pose, then do each of those in my body, and see if I was getting closer to what it was describing. Luckily for me that book also gave the intention of the pose, often with a spiritual or energetic focus, so it brought me more into how I felt in the pose.
And that is the golden nugget, how we feel in the pose.
Alignment is about building body awareness, so we can really truly feel the pose. I often like to cue to feel the sensations that aren’t talking the loudest. There’s so much subtlety to explore.
As my practice developed as a Yogi, I have always come back to how I felt in the pose, & how I could keep finding new nuances, new sensations, new tweaks in my body that got me to a deeper level of understanding of my body.
Was that because I’d get bored otherwise, was it to work around injuries, was it because I found it fascinating to explore what my body could do & how it felt as I moved, was it because I knew how much better Yoga made me feel that I couldn’t not do it, or was it because I thought it would get me looking good??
All of those have applied at some point in my life!
As someone who has practiced Yoga for 25 years, I’ve had many many moments of injuries, or more often tension & resistance in my body built up from stressful long working hours resulting in pain or discomfort. And with each injury or pain, I was able to build more understanding of what could relieve that, prevent that, & how I could modify what I was doing in my Yoga practice to work with it. Gaining a deep understanding of alignment, of how it impacted my body, how it felt, has enabled me to work with injuries & pain, to prevent & to heal.
This continued exploration of each pose, tweaking my alignment, finding those nuances keeps it fresh. If for example Warrior II, a pretty common pose, say I’ve done that pose twice a week, 50 weeks of a year, for 25 years, that’s 2,500 times…..
You’d think I’d be bored of it by now, or at least have mastered it!! But every time I come into that pose, I still actively tweak my alignment, challenging my body to really find the pose. And I don’t do that by looking at myself, but by feeling that pose in my body. Having built body awareness so that I can distinguish that subtle shift in sensations as I roll the outer edge of my back foot down.
My morning practice today, as I moved through poses I knew well, was still new, I was still tweaking my alignment, I was exploring how it felt in my body today. Everyday we will feel different in the poses, so there’s always a new level of awareness to explore, new tweaks to the alignment that will enable me to find the desired feeling in each & every pose.
What has working on my alignment in Yoga given me?
Body awareness, an ability to really notice the many subtitles of sensations in our body. Do you know I think I may be a bit addicted to that! When I’m on my mat, moving, I can be fully in my body with all those sensations. In flow.
Working with alignment, & that body awareness has enabled me to avoid countless injuries, & to find ways to heal.
Working with alignment has enabled me to build strength that I have in my 40s that I didn’t have in my 20s, despite going to the gym 3-4 times a week back then. As we work on alignment, build that body awareness, we can really challenge ourselves in poses to progressively add load in full body functional movement.
And working with alignment has enabled me to find that feeling of grace. Being able to fully arrive into each pose, finding my alignment, finding that desired feeling of the pose. Whether that’s in a Hatha practice, or a moving meditation with the breath in a Vinyasa practice.
As I went to one of my favourite teachers classes this week, a Hot Flow with Emma Guest, as I moved around my mat with my slow rhythm of breath, I could feel myself arrive into each pose, feel myself move with grace. It’s a magical feeling. That grace, that magical feeling; I am definitely addicted to that!
Putting in the work on alignment, building my body awareness, & practice, gets me there.
My ramblings are not quite as succinct as the quotes that I started with, but I hope they have helped inspire you to work on your alignment, & to find your grace both on & off of the mat.