Âsanas

"Postures give physical and mental stability and a feeling of well-being"

"In the posture, do away with excess effort and link yourself to infinity"

Patanjali, Yoga Sutra II 46-47

An oriented presence "Be active in inactivity and inactive in action" Investing in the present instant enables you, according to moments and necessity, to either act, all the while keeping at a certain distance from the position of witness, or not to act while being totally present. It inverts the present tendency of behaviour encouraging perpetual, tense and sometimes hectic action which then abates and is followed by a kind of inactivity leading away from one’s self.

The right* gesture Knowing what one is doing and how one goes about it is absolutely essential. As is learning to know one’s body and summoning – or not – its various elements in total awareness and as efficiently as possible. As well as learning how to place oneself within one’s inner space and in the space outside.

The right* action We learn to measure the intensity of our action in the posture and to use just the right energy.

Right* placement respecting structures of the body Jacques THIEBAULT used to say wittily : "When you don’t know where you are going and you still go there, you arrive, and it’s not there !" In other words, a posture which is not properly carried out cannot have any real energetic result. But it may gradually hurt the body’s tissue structures, joints or intervertebral disks and damage them for good. Our teaching is based on the understanding of the rules of mechanics applied to the human body. It insists on the awareness of the supports and stretching which make it possible to decompress the spine and then put it in harmonious curves.

Slowness is crucial for acceding to awareness.

Release and using gravity are precious tools leading the gradual liberation of our inner spaces.

Awareness Using the transfer of awareness and breath in our physical body reconnect the inner spaces with the corresponding areas of the sensory brain. It allows us to know our body better and better, making it more and more alive, consequently preparing matter to open up to Consciousness.

* "Right" in terms of appropriate, apt, accurate, balanced and not in terms of righteous (right or wrong).

All these tools, once understood, enable us to perform a posture proceeding from within, settling into it steadily ad as relaxed as possible.

This fourth step of Yogic curriculum may now participate in the work of Yoga which caters to the individual growth on the physical, emotional, psychological, mental and spiritual.