YOGA AND THE PHYSICAL SELF

It is said that there are as many asanas as there are living species, that is around 8,40,000. That means the muscles and joints can flex, extend and rotate in several thousand ways. All these asanas are classified into basic, intermediate and advanced levels. But how do you put yourself into one of these? If you are absolutely new to yoga, it is easy as you will be starting from scratch and so the basic level. But if you have been practicing for quite a while then it is a task. You can be struggling with the basic level of an easier pose and on the other hand be able to do some really difficult one. So then where do you put yourself?
But there is a way to decipher all the postures is one common way and to know how you fair physically and mentally. This way can help you understand your personality and hence your strengths and weaknesses to be applied wisely in other zones of life. Any posture can be broken into three stages - getting into the posture, holding the posture and coming out of the posture.
Getting into the posture requires you to take up the position, firm up the body yet keep it lose enough to go into the posture smoothly. Going from a neutral pose to the desired pose will demand you to align each and every involved muscle and ease into the pose consciously so as not to bend knees, tense shoulder or hunch back. Hence it demands you of a conscious will power. And there the mind questions, "how do I look when I go into the pose?",  "What would everyone else in the room think if I topple?". Can you rise above these questions and do the pose anyways? Here's a check on your perception of the self.
Holding the posture is uncomfortable to begin with. You realize that your body is shaking all the way. Your mind is focused on the only wish of ending the pose soon and so you breathe unevenly or forget to breathe completely. You realize which part of your body lacks the strength. Thus, it hones your endurance and brings awareness. And if you fall out of the pose in between, would you wish to go back into the pose? Here you check your dedication.
Coming out of the posture seems to be the happiest part until your teachers instructs you to come back slowly, step after step. Here you realize, coming out is the most difficult part actually. The core muscles are put to work here. Initially, either you rush out or you fall out of the pose till your core strengthens to ease you out smoothly.
This whole saga of a single pose puts your will power, strength, endurance, self image, fear for challenges, acceptance of failure and your ability to mold your mind; to a test.
So when Patanjali said sthira sukham asanam, he did not just mean to prepare the body for sitting still for hours of meditation. He also meant that in every pose, try to reach a state where both mind and body become still and it looks as easy as your natural state of being. Hence, asanas though important for health and balance of the body, have a deeper purpose; to diffuse the consciousness uniformly throughout the body so that duality between senses, nerves, cells, mind, intelligence and consciousness are eradicated and the whole being is in harmony. When the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, endocrine and genito-excretory systems are cleansed through asanas, prana moves unobstructed to the remotest cells and feeds them with copious supply of energy. Thus rejuvenated and revitalized body moves towards the goal of self-realization.
Sri Brahmananda clearly and beautifully sums up the effects of asanas. He says "the body is full of inertia (tamasic), the mind vibrant (rajasic) and the self serene and luminous (satvic). By perfection in asanas, the lazy body is transformed to the level of the vibrant mind and they together are cultured to reach the level of the serenity of the self."