What is Ashasana Yoga❔

Ashasana, or asasana, is a Sanskrit word related to ASANA, which means pose. ASANA is used to refer to all physical postures, gestures, and movements used in yoga practice. ASHASANA has seberal meanings, as is usual in Sanskrit. One of them is 'anarchy'. Since YOGA means discipline or path, then ASHASANA YOGA is the anarchy discipline, or the path of anarchy.

ASHASANA is also a portmanteau of the Sanskrit word YOGA and the English word ASH. It was inspired by the idea of practicing asana in the ashes of civilization. On a planet burnt to ash by the sun. So much of the yoga space is filled with distraction and escapism from the world around us. Illusory as it may be, we are here to straighten out our KARMA, and this is the realm in which that must be done.

Is it your dharma to close your eyes to injustice❔

A post-lineage approach to Modern Postural Yoga that…

• Recognizes and honors the indigenous origins of Modern Postural Yoga.
• Emphasizes using Sanskrit terms whenever applicable and respectful.
• Places equal emphasis on studying indigenous sources and the latest in modern medical science, including mental health
• Engages with the ongoing cultural syncretism of Modern Postural Yoga with informed intention.
• Asserts a practitioner’s body is their only Guru in Modern Postural Yoga.
• Insists that if it hurts it isn’t Yoga, and encourages practitioners to modify postures rather than their bodies.
• Maintains everybody already has a yoga body and welcomes all of them.
• Encourages goals for participants that are based on known outcomes:
• Increased feelings of well-being, maintaining joint mobility, improving balance, stress relief, increasing flexibility and emotional resilience.
• Encourages participants to see their emotions as teachers, negative and positive. Instead of seeking or avoiding specific emotions, seek to process, understand, and learn from the emotional teachers your mind creates for you.
• Acknowledges that mental illness, traumatic experiences, neurodivergence, and other factors may alter how we should treat these teachers. Practitioners with these experiences should make those choices with a trusted mental health professional.
• Provides science based information to enable risk aware participation. Embraces an anti-fragile perspective for cueing and discussing the body.
• Employs a consent based teaching model that centers members of marginalized groups.
• Is trauma-informed, inclusive, and accessible.
• Encourages students to experience any instruction that appeals to them.
• Utilizes transparency and other methods to counter the risks created by power imbalances in the teacher-student relationship.
• Acknowledges the emotional and/or psychological vulnerabilities that may be a natural side effect of yogic practices for some practitioners.
• Affirms that the exploitation of these vulnerabilities is unethical.
• Affirms that practitioners, both teacher and student, will not exploit these vulnerabilities.
• Educates practitioners of these vulnerabilities so that they can recognize their exploitation, whether or not it is intentional.
• Provides affirmation and support to assist practitioners in overcoming any vulnerabilities they may experience.
• Stresses traditional use of props and incremental progress to avoid injury.
• Emphasizes solitary practice and utilizes creative means to do so.
• Cultivates a perpetual openness to improvement through learning, practice, and study.