All yoga poses should be therapeutic...should be therapeutic. But what does this mean? What component is necessary to transform our asana from simple exercise to therapy?
Alignment, certainly. But is elegant alignment enough?
Therapy--whether physical or psychological--begins with a process of investigation, and the goal is curative. Etymologically, the word therapy actually means healing. Therapy is meant to have an ameliorative effect; it is curing, beneficial, good.
So to be good yoga, we want our postures to help heal us, to be beneficial to our well-being--inside and out. And what can we do to make this happen? It all starts with being clear in our intention.
When we have therapy as a goal, and move toward it, alignment becomes something we participate in with such true caring, engagement becomes as critical as breath. We bring a commitment to become something more, to deepen our knowledge--our awareness--of ourselves.
As the subtlest nuances of our physical and emotional landscape become known to us, we grow more sensitive to our body's innate intelligence. We give it what it asks for, and in return, it responds with what we need. We become more fully ourselves, as the sphere of our life grows and deepens. We expand into our potential, leave the ordinary behind. Wings wide open, heart wide open, we fly free and discover our uniqueness.
