The Yamas and Niyamas guide us to direct our energies with balance & harmony. In doing so, we find balance
among the body-mind-spirit, and between the “self” and “other”. Imbalance creates pain and suffering.
Balance creates harmony and peace. Similarly, we try to balance our asana practice: it should be grounded and
steady but also light and flowing.
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Hatha: “Ha”-sun “tha”-moon
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The word symbolizes the joining or yolking of male and female energies. The male energy is represented as
strong, focused, and grounded. The female energy is represented as fluid, gentle, compassionate, sensitive,
yielding. Both are needed to create balance and harmony. “Only when you can be extremely soft and pliable
can you be extremely hard and strong”.
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Sthira sukham asanam (Yoga Sutras, II.46)
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Sthira means strength, stability, and firmness. Sukha means happiness, lightness, and space. We try to
express this principle in our asana practice by balancing, strength, and being grounded with lightness, flow, and
yielding.
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Tips for balancing in standing postures:
 | | Nothing will cause you to lose your balance quicker than following a thought stream (a story). Conversely, | | | draining the mind of thoughts completely, will allow you to balance with ease. This is an exercise in bringing the
mind to a single point of focus. Mastering this focus (Dharana) in balancing postures where it is mandatory is a
starting point for adopting such concentration in other parts of your practice (on and off the mat).
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| | Focus your vision on a single point - a speck on the wall, the intersection of 2 lines, the edge of a mat, anything | | | stationary that is at eye level.
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| | Observe your center of mass and central axis, and how your body weight is distributed with respect to these | | | measures.
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| | Relax everything that doesn't need to be tense. Unnecessary tension hinders your balance even if it is | | | relatively subtle (tensing your toes, fingers, jaw, neck, etc.)
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| | Balance tends to become worse with muscle fatigue. Give yourself a break if your Utthita Hasta | | | Padangusthasana is wavering after a day of rock climbing.
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