How long to stay in asana

With regular practice, you will be able to stay in an asana for a long time. S Iyengar introduced props in Yoga. When you hold a posture for over 5 minutes, it is safer to use props. Though the practitioner maybe experienced, strong and flexible; But yoga is not about carrying acute pains.

The asana practice should be comfortable and effortless, as per Yoga sutras. About 1 minute in an asana is good time. Thus, from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Over-exerting in yoga postures will dampen your spirits and muscles. Thus while holding the asanas, key factors to remember:. There are some postures that are not meant to be held for a long time like Sirsasana, Mayurasana, etc, as they may lead to muscle-joint strain.

Fix the eyesight on the toes and maintaining the asana, continue normal breathing. One should concentrate on getting the legs, waist and the back in one straight line and making this line 90 degrees with the ground.

In this asana the arms up to the elbows are placed on the floor, shoulder width apart. The body from the feet to the shoulders is in a straight line. All the pressure is on the neck, shoulders and the back of the head. The hands are placed on the back ribs, the legs are straight and the feet are relaxed. Keeping the body in a straight line. Remaining balanced. Excess vata in our body often has us living in our head space — racing thoughts, constant over thinking, anxiety.

In an already fast paced, driven society — vata is naturally present in bucket loads for us, usually before we have even left the house in the morning. We may religiously check social media, emails, race to get to work or school… the mind is distracted and moving in all directions by 9am.

Stepping into a class that perpetuates this constant, mental activity may not be the best form of yoga. Exercise perpetuates movement — think walking, cycling, running, cardio workout — and movement increases vata. Asana as constant movement is far removed from the origins of classic yoga tradition where the ultimate goal of yoga was to sit down and reflect in meditation — dhyanam see the 8 Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga according to Patanjali. The body was prepared in a very specific way through movement and staying to reach this point of stillness.

Breath is fundamental to yoga in assisting the flow of energy or prana through our system. When we push the body with continual movement we create a heating, energising effect called brahmana. This may be valuable for us if we keep the breath steady and work within our limits. Most important is attaining dirgha long breath and susksma smooth breath. When the breath is compromised to attain the posture we start to fatigue and lose that close connection to body stability.

Unstable body patterns flows through to mind. If the main focus is on releasing tension and feeling balanced in a posture, deepening the breath while holding the pose will assist a parasympathetic activation of the nervous system.

On a physiological level, a short breath is not valuable to our body in the interplay of carbon dioxide output and oxygen input that occurs when we breathe. A full breath fills our bloodstream with vital nutrients and nourishes all our bodily system such as circulatory, muscular, endocrine etc. A short breath fatigues the body and agitates the mind. Not the goal of yoga…. When we move and create a repetition with a posture we increase the effectiveness and ease of that posture once we arrive and stay in it.

In effect, we are training the body, leading it towards a destination and then finally arriving. It might mean the pose is repeated several times but with the endgame of the student being comfortable enough to stay for a while. Many yoga classes overlook the function of a yoga pose.