Sublime

As yoga was defined in I.2 in terms of the suppression of vṛttis, so here kriyā-yoga is defined in terms of the weakening, tanū-karaṇa, of what we will discover are the underlying cause of the vṛttis, the kleśas.

movable,

case. Having arrived in the territory of the backbend, it still requires a great deal of internal and meditative focus to actually turn a gymnastic position into a fully functioning yoga pose and receive the benefits of that pose. Because those who are naturally flexible arrive more easily in the pose, they also run a greater risk than stiffer

Can’t do a pose because you’re not flexible enough, strong enough, or have an injury? No problem: adjust the pose, or do a different one. As long as you’re focusing on your breath as you move, and you pay attention to what your body is telling you, you’re doing it right.

Apāna gives a visceral sense of impermanence and interconnectedness to forms projected into the sense fields opened by the inhaling prāṇa pattern. When we ignore this grounding, stabilizing aspect of apāna in backbends, a sense of an asymmetrical, manic “hyperprāṇa” arises in which it is difficult to focus the mind, and an underlying sense of