Simplicity

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

It is important for you to understand that as you progress in yoga, your practices need to become more and more simple. When you are starting yoga, your practices can be complex. At that time you are learning yoga, so you go through the whole range. That is the learning process, but when it comes to personal sadhana then it is not the complex practices of yoga that you need to do but the simple ones, to realign and balance the forces in the body and mind.

Simplicity in asanas refers to the selection of practices with regard to the requirements of the body. Generally speaking, your body requires only a few major movements: stretching or traction, such as in tadasana; twisting, which is seen in kati chakrasana; bending from side to side, that is tiryak tadasana; forward and backward bends, which are seen in surya namaskara. If your practice covers this range of movements, it is enough for a normal practitioner.

27 October 2018, Munger Yoga Symposium