Students often ask, "Am I right?" Is my posture correct?
Is Yoga about getting the posture right?
Sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras PYS..2.46… 2.48…..gives these 3 facts about Asana.
Sthiram Sukham Asanam
Prayatnashaitilya anantasamapatibhyam
Tato dvandva ana bhigatah
Posture is that one which is steady and comfortable. Initially, one has to put in effort, but with practise it becomes effortless, and the posture can be maintained with ease.
Since each body type is different, there can be as many postures as the number of people. Each person can be comfortable in their posture
What is important is how they feel while getting into and holding a pose, than "getting it right." In yoga, the experience is different for everyone, the experience is different each time and what feels right is something the individual must determine .
A teacher can only guide the student —and that requires finding a window into that student's experience. A teacher can't tell exactly how a student is feeling in a pose. She can only guide the student to a pose, it is for the student to find the comfort and steadiness.
Although Yoga is intended to heal, many students and teachers find out the hard way, that it can also potentially do harm. Common yoga injuries include repetitive strain to, and overstretching of, the neck, shoulders, spine, legs, and knees.
Asanas are never to blame for injuries, "It's the combination of individual student, asana, and the student's or the teacher's beliefs about the asana that leads to trouble," By "beliefs," means too much certainty about how long you should hold a pose, what a pose should look like, or how to do a specific pose in a specific way.
One way to help students get in the groove is to paint yoga as something to experience, not something to work at. Often, the challenge for yoga instructors is to balance the idea of the noncompetitive spirit of yoga and the aim to work toward perfecting asanas. Always pushing to get better, improve, do more in the rest of our lives is what has been ingrained in us from our childhood.
What makes a Yoga practice necessary is it that it makes us enjoy the experience ,it guides us be in the moment and to be with ourselves.
Since, An asana is, by definition, a steady, comfortable seat, so there is no "perfect" asana. An asana should be perfect for the person in the moment. The skilled teacher recognizes the student where they are and encourages them to work at a level that's right for them. The pressing to go further comes with a rapport between teacher and student, where advancement refers to the student looking at her fears and self-concept, then moving beyond those in the spirit of yoga.
Teachers need to build a pose or sequence from the basics up, layering levels in. Most students say they have been practising Yoga for years but find it difficult to maintain in the pose for a few breaths with eyes closed. They often feel that we are doing the same practise again and again.
Can the teacher guide the student as to what advancement in Asana is all about? It is about feeling, maintaining in the pose to the student's comfort level. Advancement is doing the practise with eyes closed.
It is Yoga that needs to be flexible and not the students. With practise and detachment the student becomes flexible not only in the body but by mind also. The student begins to feel the expansion by maintaining in the asana, as told by Sage Patanjali. And when the expansion happens the student begins to feel the let go of the burden that they were carrying, physically, mentally, emotionally and begins to find the peace, joy and harmony.
Thus, Yoga becomes a way of life.
-Vijaya Hariharan