Asana

Asana is the third of the eight limbs described in the Yoga Sutras, and in the oldest texts it means little more than a steady, comfortable seat for breathing and meditation. The hundreds of postures taught today are a much later development, most of them systematised in the last century and a half. You will hear the word as a suffix: savasana, tadasana, bhujangasana — the posture of the corpse, the mountain, the cobra.

What postures are for is often misunderstood. They build strength, mobility and balance, which is real and useful on its own. But their original function was preparation: a body that can sit upright without pain for twenty minutes is a body that can breathe and sit still, which is what the rest of the practice requires. The shape is a means, not a score.

In a KEO session, asana is taught by demonstration and by name, in that order — Ben shows the shape, says what it is called once, and offers two or three versions of it. You are never expected to know the Sanskrit, and taking the easier version of a posture is treated as good judgment rather than as a failure, because a posture you can breathe steadily in is doing its job and one you are straining in is not.