What kind of effort is needed to make this effortless?

This month at Kushala we are putting asana, the posture practice, in the spotlight. It’s typically what we identify with yoga, but it’s sometimes maligned for not being the “true essence” of yoga. But yoga has always upheld the importance of the body as a factor in the path of awakening. Chip Hartranft, author, yoga and dharma teacher, writes in his translation and commentary of the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali:

“Asana is a window that opens onto some of our deepest personal conditioning and the suffering it generates… Our habit in everyday life is to shift our weight, scratch, intellectualize, or otherwise respond to unwelcome internal experiences with some sort of evasive action, usually subliminal. Our practice here means holding on to the possibility that this can be known without suffering – whatever “this” happens to be in the moment… In other words, it takes a special kind of effort to achieve effortlessness.”

“…Simply put, in asana, one must do less to be more.“

Explore the subtleties of the posture practice with us in 2-weeks of workshops this March, in an event called Posture Play. There are 7 workshops to choose from (or attend them all) using your yoga pass. But please pre-register, and read more below. Also this month, join us for healing, liberating and informative workshops, including Chakra 101, Unwreck Your Neck, Friday Night Dance Party!, Women’s Cacao Ceremony and Sound Bath Sanctuary. Next month, look forward to the start of two new courses: Vedic Breathing Course and Ayurveda 101, and the return of Yoga for Beginners.