I am often asked what the Sanskrit term ‘Asana’ means. In yoga, Asana is the third of eight limbs. It encompasses all of the physical postures. But before modern yoga, Asana referred to poses that were performed while sitting. Before that, Asana referred to the seated posture held during prayer or meditation. But the original meaning for Asana was a small blanket or deer skin, which Hindus sat upon while praying.
This rug was the original yoga prop, and for millennia, the only yoga prop. Arlene, my first yoga teacher, preferred to teach on a carpeted floor, but in the absence of carpet, a rug or blanket would be used. There were no other props.
The famous yoga teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar, was the first yogi to introduce blocks to help those less flexible students in standing poses. Next it was the sticky mat (originally that pale green carpet backing from Germany that we all started with). Now there are dozens and dozens of yoga props in every possible color and style, available in the market place.
But my favorite prop (aside from a yoga blanket) is the chair. Chairs can be used to make poses easier or harder! They are ubiquitous, readily available in most hotels, airport terminals, and anywhere where people congregate or need to rest. In the early 1970’s, Arlene was well known at the Radcliffe (the medical school teaching hospital in Oxford), where she taught a special yoga practice for surgeons. After this class she would go through the hospital, bed to bed, giving private lessons to patients, many of them bed-bound. If a patient was a quadriplegic, she would ask them if they knew how many muscles they had in their face and would help them increase awareness of control of those areas of their body that they still had access to. She always adapted yoga to fit the needs of the student.
In 1996 I was asked by Seton Hospital to create a cardiac yoga program for the hospital. As there were no guidelines or protocols, I had to wing it. I studied up on all of the poses that were contra-indicated for cardiac patients and planned to teach what was left over. On the first day I looked around the room and then spent 10 minutes stealing chairs from wherever I could find them. Sitting comfortably in chairs, I went around the circle asking about health issues…. and quickly realized that by the time people have heart disease, they often already have a host of other problems from arthritis to vertigo. This was when I first learned to appreciate chairs as a yoga prop.
Later, I grew to love using chairs for my own personal yoga practice as well. When I was taught yoga for the University of Texas, I spent a lot of time at the Union building. I soon knew all of the different types and styles of chairs. Some of the overstuffed arm chairs on the 3rd floor were great to turn sideways in and drape over the arm into a back bend. Others were great for twisting, hip opening, or meditation. Some were even good for studying. Chairs are everywhere, and we spend a lot of time in chairs. Once you learn a little chair yoga, chairs become both an opportunity and a reminder to take a few minutes out from what you are doing to practice a little yoga – any time – any where.
In the last few years, there has been an explosion in yoga props, including swings, slings, hoops, and more. The original yogi’s drew inspiration for asana practice from the animals around them. Anyone that has lived with cats can tell you that cats are the masters of using common, everyday household items as their own personal yoga props. Anyone up for Hot Yoga?
While I love that there are so many new props for us to play with, I do worry that they can distract from the heart of yoga. I know of yoga students who pass up the opportunity to do yoga if they do not have their sticky mat handy. Yoga predates sticky mats by 4950 years!
I still like to go ‘old school’ from time to time – just me and my favorite yoga blanket on a hardwood floor.
