The term asana or seat, firm seating, is used in Hatha yoga to indicate a large variety of different yoga postures which typically involve bending and stretching the trunk of the body, or more precisely to twist the spine, and serves to keep it very flexible. The difference between yoga poses and Western physical exercises consist mainly in this that the latter are largely intended to build up muscular strength; the yoga poses not at all. In the yoga poses the chief aim is to cultivate poise and balance which, whether in sitting, or in standing or in walking, will need the minimum of muscular effort, and if possible no effort at all.

We may divide the postures into three groups:

1. corrective asanas intended for bodily fitness, most of which are meant to be retained for a very short time, in some cases only a few seconds or minutes.
2. relaxing asanas intended to calm the body and mind and to prepare the yoga practitioner for meditative asanas;
3. meditative asanas intended to be retained for a long time in meditation ;

In yoga postures for meditation as the Bhagavadgîtâ says, ‘head, neck, and back in a straight line’ is the first requirement and then ‘the whole resting completely on the buttocks’. In this balanced position the legs may be folded in front in various ways. The straight spine line gives the feeling of ’sitting up’ rather than ’sitting down’.

The yoga novice is fairly sure to comment that the ’sitting up’ will call for more energy than the ’sitting down’, which is a usual mistake that needs some practice to be clarified. The body properly balanced uses no energy to keep upright, so that it becomes quite easy to sit still and forget it for, say, two hours, if desired, though sitting in a meditation rarely requires such a length of time. And when the period is over and other duties call it will be found that the body is unwilling to move, being so happy in that highly relaxed condition that a definite act of will-power is needed to make it get up. As said this attainment needs some time, and the final asana achievement is when the body feels comfortable and relaxed in a chosen yoga pose.

There are, however, some necessary preconditions for success in meditative yoga poses. One is that the neck must have the correct muscular development. Many people carry their heads crookedly all the time, not because of faulty connections between the vertebrae (which a chiropractor can usually put in line) but through sheer bad habit.

A second requisite is that the shoulders should be habitually well held, which is a matter that can be put right while walking. They should not be strained back, of course, but on the other hand there should be no forward droop at all.

After the neck and shoulders, the abdominal muscles need consideration. They should be strong, and should every day receive some exercise - drawing them in and up and then lowering them again a number of times as prescribed in some bandhas. This is a very rejuvenating exercise, and can be practiced at odd times - while walking, in a car or train or bus, or on the toilet seat. If there is sleeplessness in bed at night, one can with benefit perform this exercise; being physical, it will conduce to sleep.

With this equipment one can sit greatly relaxed. It is necessary now that one should know the feel of relaxation. This is to be acquired first in a small part of the body, such as hand and fingers, then with the aid of that remembered feeling one can produce a relaxation all over, by a piecemeal process.

Next, one must see to the balance of the back imagining a pull from above. It is usually desirable to stretch and shake the neck a bit and let it settle again to find the correct balance. See that the shoulders are all right, and now attend to the arms. This is done by letting them hang from the shoulders down the sides. Then, without altering the vertical position of the upper arms, bend the elbows and bring up the forearms until the hands rest on the thighs in their natural position according to the length of the arms. Now relax the arms entirely and let the thighs support all the weight of the forearms. This being done, the student is ready for meditation.

Patanjali does not prescribe any special yoga posture for meditation. He merely requires that it should be steady and pleasurable, and, we may add, healthy.

Here are Patanjali’s aphorisms on the subject:
Sitting is to be steady and pleasurable. This is done by loosening of effort and thinking on the infinite. Thence there is no disturbance from the pairs of opposites.

This is the attainment of asana: loosening of effort, removing the disturbance from the pairs of opposites and relaxing the body and mind.

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