For years, as both a yoga student and teacher, I was led to believe that there was something sacred about the yoga poses. Certainly, in my early years of Iyengar yoga, I was taught that the appearance and alignment of the asanas were codified. This perspective places more emphasis on the form of a yoga asana than its function. 

Over time I have released my focus on form and instead emphasize the function of poses. So, if you accept that there is nothing sacred about yoga poses themselves, why do they matter? 

Yoga poses are tools designed to serve you … in body, mind and heart.

Body: Asanas can help improve your mobility because they invite you to move your body in a variety of ways that you don’t during a regular day. Why is this a good thing? Because movement variety is often a missing element in modern day life. 

The adage “move it or lose it” also applies here. For better or worse, your body is adaptable. If you never reach your arms overhead, you will eventually find it difficult to do so. 

How do I define mobility? It is your ability to perform movements with ease without restriction or pain by drawing on your strength, coordination and balance.  

Notice that I didn’t say that asana practice would make you strong or flexible. It might. Though this is not the same as being mobile. 

Mind: Another way that poses are designed to serve you is inherent in their complexity. I often joke that you don’t arrive in a yoga pose by accident. There are a lot of varied movements and joint positions that come together to create an asana. In this way, the pose asks you to pay attention. 

Why is this complexity a good thing? What I first noticed as a new practitioner is that the complexity of the poses freed me from a lot of the ongoing chatter in my head. I needed to focus on what I was doing right here and right now! In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali defines yoga as Yogas chitta virtti nirodha, or the calming of the fluctuations of the heart and mind stuff. 

Heart: Figuring out difficult yoga poses can provide you with a sense of purpose and your efforts will challenge you and perhaps provide you with a sense of accomplishment. And there is more! I like to think of the poses as the journey toward knowing myself better, toward the heart of who I am. Yoga practice is not about whether or not I can do a pose. It’s more about who I am in the pose. This speaks to self-study, or svadhyaya as described in the Yoga Sutras.

I believe that yoga meets you where you are … if you let it. So, understanding and knowing yourself better through asana is another important reason why asana matters.

By emphasizing mobility, function and self-study, the poses become wonderful tools designed to support each of us in body, mind and heart.