The Spiritual Experience of Shattering

The yoga postures (Asana) allow us to meditate on the body and gain a profound understanding and knowledge of its nature. Intellectual growth in the mind and strengthening and expansion of neurological connections serve us in the spiritual quest of unity and illumination. Yoga Asana can also be destructive when done without proper guidance. We will be starting with the beginners asanas

The asanas can be classified or catagorized in various ways, depending on the application of the asanas, usefulness to various physical conditions, level of practice.

Meditative asanas - Some asanas are specially for practice of meditation, they provide a firm support to the posture and help maintain the body posture for longer time. These yoga poses regulate the blood flow to the legs and make available more blood in the pelvic region and lower abdominal region. These positions allow the mind to be peaceful and focused. Yogasana like Padmasana (Lotus pose), Siddhasana (Perfect pose), Swastikasana( Auspicious pose) Vajrasan (thunderbolt pose), Samasana (balance pose) etc are called as meditative asanas. The purpose of this asana is to stabilize the body for advanced practices of Pranayama and Meditation.

Asanas for Improving health - Asanas have a good effect on various systems in the human body, such as Matsyendrasana (spinal twist pose) has a good effect on the digestive system and a good effect on the pancreas for improving the insulin production, Sarvangasana (shoulder stand pose) has good effects on the hormones affecting various endocrine glands particularly the thyroid glands. So the asanas which have a complementary effect on various organs can be classified in this category.

Relaxing asanas - Shavasana (corpse pose) and Makarasana (crocodile pose) are relaxing asanas, which give complete rest to the body and mind. Another way to classify the asanas is considering the position of the body in a Yoga pose.

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