yoga essentials

Movement vs. Action:  Movement is gross, less conscious, and mainly uses the big muscle groups.  It is a visible change of the body's position.  Actions are invisible forces we apply to create movements.  We want to learn to create "Actions" that stabilize the body and neutralize the "Law of Compensation."

When we force ourselves into a posture or push to our greatest range of motion we are focusing on gross movements and putting at risk our weakest parts.  Actions are required to balance these forces.  We must learn to resist the temptation to achieve an illusion of the posture and instead hold back for the true posture.

Example:  If you raise your arms this is just movement.  Instead, from inside lift your sternum and as you raise your arms extend your arms out of your back ribs.  This is an action.

Stable vs. Moving:  There are parts of the body in asana work that are moving and parts that serve to stabilize.  Both are necessary.  Stable parts serve as a foundation, anchor or root, and allow us to create lengthening or extending movements.

Example:  In Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2)  the back leg and arm are stable.  The front leg bends into the pose, the moving part.

Dynamic vs. Static:  This refers to how we work in an asana (pose).  Dynamic work is moving.  Using the breath we move up and down, in and out of the pose to create heat and elasticity.  Static work is holding a posture and working internally on actions.  It is believed it is best to start with dynamic work before static work.  For beginners it is best not to demand that they hold postures too long.

Control and Surrender:  The quality of our effort is perhaps the most important aspect of our practice.

It is essential that we challenge ourselves.  We must also be careful not to cause harm.  The balance of these forces is the balancing of our effort.  We must resist hurting ourselves which requires control.  We must also learn to surrender but not to give up.  Surrender speaks to letting go.  We can hurt ourselves by controlling too much but we also hurt ourselves by surrendering too much.  Control is essential to freedom.  If you do not control, you will "be out of control."  Surrender is also essential to liberation.  If you hold on too hard there is no room for movement.  The balance of these is yoga.

Lisa Walford