Steadiness and Ease

Reading from Tuesday, May 12, 2015 yoga class

From an article on the Yoga International website

Sthira and Sukha  (Steadiness and Ease)

Rhythm…it is essential to life.  Moment by moment…the earth circles the sun, the tides rise and fall, the cells of all living beings resonate with the tempo set by nature.  The lungs and heart work rhythmically, the intestines produce a contracting/relaxing wave, the brain generates brain waves…all this intricately connected with one another and with our external environment.  The rhythm of the universe appears as seasons, a “time to every purpose under heaven.”

Prana is the life force that strings body, mind and spirit together on a single strand of breath, like pearls on a thread.  This causes them to act together as a single organism.  Most of us ignore the natural internal and external rhythms of our prana. 

Yoga helps us grow more sensitive to our own prana.  We learn to move through our lives with steadiness (sthira) and ease (sukha).

In asana we should be stable/steady and comfortable.  Sukha literally translates as “abiding in a good space.”

We can become established in “good space” only when our prana is healthy.  When we cultivate healthy prana this extends beyond the edge of our yoga mat into every aspect of our daily lives.

STIRHAM  SUKHAM  ASANAM

1.    Sthira… firm, compact, strong, steadfast, resolute, courageous

2.    Sukha…happy, good, joyful, easy, agreeable, gentle, mild

                        The literal meaning is “good space”

3.     Asanam…The act of sitting down, abiding, being present.

                           being grounded in and committed to whatever

                           you are doing, when you are doing it.

When we practice asana… sthira is the ability to “hold steady” in an asana. Sukha (good space) is the comfort that arises when joint/bones are aligned with gravity and the muscles are free of strain.  At the energetic level sukha is revealed as an easy flow of breath and balanced circulation of prana (life force).  Mentally, this “good space” is noticeable as a quality of spacious awareness.

Being in “good space” is how you shape your days…how and what you eat, spacing your meals properly, going to bed on time, the quality of your relationships, all contribute to a quality of even steadiness (sthira).  The key is to pay attention and respond to how you feel moment to moment.  If you are paying attention, you will have a feel for the pace at which you will be able to live your life on any given day. 

When you overburden the body and mind consistently, you will end up living with sukha’s evil twin, “dukha” (bad space).  You will become exhausted, impatient and eventually become sick with stress related illnesses such as insomnia, anxiety, heart disease. 

So making “good space” in our lives for rest and relaxation can literally be lifesaving.  Each time we step on our mats, we are cultivating Sthira and Sukha.