Reflections on Stretching, Stabilizing, and Forceful Yoga

by Mark Stephens

What is Asana? Sthira Sukham Asanam – “Steadiness, Ease, Present”

– Patanjali, Yoga Sutra (325CE)

Hatha: “forceful”

Example: Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Light on Forceful Yoga)

– Swami Swatmarama (early 15^th century)

These reflections flow to you in waves:

• Wave One. This sets the table. I wrote it somewhat playfully, colloquially, and maybe a little provocatively. I do like to stir the pot! It considers notions about stretching in the vastly different practices of Ashtanga Vinyasa (which the foundational practice from which most “flow” style of yoga are derived) and Yin Yoga.
• Wave Two. This sets forth basic – and conventional – information on joint stability and mobility.
• Wave Three. This takes a much deeper dive into the kinesiology of stretching, ROM, stability, the nature of fascia, and related matters.

Wave One

Let’s imagine a student who’s in good overall health. They have no acute o...

Perseverance & Non-Attachment

As we come to the experience in an asana in which we no longer feel any significant effect or effort in being in it, we might simply stay there, being in it, or we might find ourselves opening to a variation of it or transitioning to an asana in which we find it takes some greater effort to find stability and ease to be just as stable, relaxed, and present. However, if we always practice asanas in a way that involves no effort—that is one path—we might be missing an opportunity to engender deeper awakening and change through the intensity and diversity of experience that doing yoga offers us, to really do Hatha yoga, which is most deeply and lastingly done with the self-discipline (tapas) it takes to fully show up to the best of our ability, breath by breath, asana by asana, practice by practice, day by day, exploring the edges of possibility and discovering what happens amid it all. With persevering practice—abhyasa— we do stay with it; fully commit...

Poses are static representations of idealized forms, something models do for cameras in an effort to send an external message. Typically airbrushed and enhanced in other ways, they are anything but real. Asanas, by contrast, are alive and personal; they are an expression of organic human beings exploring, living, and intentionally evolving in the temple of the bodymind. When we appreciate a student through the wisdom of our heart, then we more naturally see the intrinsic beauty already manifest in their practice. From this starting point we come to more naturally sit in the seat of the teacher, giving our students the space to blossom in the fullness of their yoga—even when we apply what insight we might have into the basic architecture, gesture, and mood of each asana as it is uniquely and beautifully expressed in each individual student.  

In giving tactile cues, we are offering students guidance in finding their way to a more stable foundation, to aligning their body safely and c...

Using your hands to accentuate and refine what you are trying to convey with words or visual modeling can make all the difference in a student’s ability to comprehend and internalize whatever you are trying to share. With clearer, more manifold communication comes deeper learning, and with it the promise of yoga—to be healthy, integrated, fully awake—is gradually more fully realized. Touch, which immediately reaches our students in a direct and personal way, can thus be an effective method of directly, simply, and specifically communicating with them. Spoken words and the physical demonstration of asanas are essential ways of communicating with students and should be the starting place—and often the ending place—in teaching asanas. Yet when combined with precise and informed touch, these tools can convey even more: 

• clarifying a verbalized or demonstrated alignment cue 
• highlighting an energetic action 
• giving students a feeling of support 
• bringing awareness to an unconscious
...

Hands-on cues and assistance are only one of several methods of giving clear instructional guidance to students. To the extent that you give clear verbal cues combined with effective demonstrations, most students will not need tactile cues. To make your verbal cues most effective, speak slowly while simultaneously moving slowly into the asana you are teaching, giving slightly dramatic emphasis to whatever you most want to highlight while transitioning in from a position in which you mirror your class with maximum visual contact between you and all of your students. Try not to say what not to do; instead, emphasize what to do. (Saying what not to do often confuses students, especially if they miss the “not” part of your instruction.) Try to order your verbal cues as discussed in detail in chapter 4 of Yoga Sequencing. Try to verbally cue to what you are seeing students doing or not doing as they transition into the asana, and give them a chance to physically express the cue before rus...

The primary goal in teaching asanas is to enable students to perceive and understand more clearly what they are doing in developing a sustainable personal practice, whether in a class or independently. But there are many different ways of learning that require a varied approach to teaching. How people learn is closely tied to what educator Howard Gardner (1993) refers to as “qualities of multiple intelligence,” which vary considerably in any given class of yoga students.

In yoga classes, where the learning objectives include conceptual, emotional, physical, and metaphysical elements, the full range of multiple intelligences are in play. At the same time, a human being is more than his or her intellectual powers; motivation, personality, emotions, physical health, and personal will are more significant than a particular learning style in shaping how, where, and when one learns. This suggests that effective yoga instruction takes into account these variables in engaging with students ...

The verbal root as in asana includes the idea of ritual, a set of actions with symbolic significance that we can tie into practice to highlight certain areas of personal, emotional, spiritual, social, and ecological experience. When teaching yoga, you can accentuate these ties by emphasizing the symbolism expressed in different parts of the practice. One source of symbolism is the vast realm of mythological figures found across the world’s diverse cultural landscapes. Whether we interpret myth as allegory and a “medium for or a flawed version of an immutable, eternal reality created by or for unsophisticated minds” or as “an essential function of the mind (conscious or unconscious) to express repressed needs and desires or to make sense out of life and resolve all conflicts therein,” as Devdutt Pattanaik (2003, 161–162) contrasts, we can find within them profound wisdom about the conditions and circumstances of life and consciousness.

Indian mythology is especially rich in tales, sy...

Most people are first drawn into the practice to reduce stress, develop flexibility, heal a physical or emotional injury, explore new social connections, or pursue physical fitness. But once in the practice, connecting body-breath-mind, something starts to happen. Students begin to experience a clearer self-awareness, a sense of being more fully alive; they feel better, more in balance, more conscious, clearer. The yearning that we have as human beings for a happy, wakeful, meaningful life and a sense of connection with something greater than our individual selves starts to become a powerful motivation for practicing over the long run of one’s life.

When used as a tool for self-transformation and a path of spiritual being, yoga starts the moment a student first pays attention to what he or she is doing in the practice. If a student is unsteady, falling, in pain, or distracted by discomfort, the tendency will be to go back into his or her analytical or agitated mind. Sthira and sukha...