A Yoga Sutra You Can Take Home With You

"Sthira Sukham Asanam": The Art of Steady Ease

Of the 196 aphorisms in the ancient text - Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, only three speak of posture, and the first is just 3 words long: sthira sukham asanam: The seat should be steady, and the seat should be at ease.

A Grammar of Balance

The words carry more than the English can hold.

• Sthira means steady, firm, unwavering. It is the quality of effort, the spine that rises and the attention that stays.

• Sukha means ease. A traditional reading splits the word into su (good) and kha (space), a good space, and sets it against duhkha, the cramped space we translate as suffering. To be at ease, in this sense, is to have room.

• Asana comes from the root as, “to sit”. Long before yoga became a sequence of shapes, it meant the seat from which one meditates.

Patanjali does not name a pose, or give alignment cues. He names two qualities and asks that they arrive together. Steadiness without ease hardens into rigidity, and ease without steadiness dissolves into slackness. The posture he describes is the one where neither wins.

The next sutra (2.47) adds the key instruction: relax unnecessary effort. In other words, use only the effort the posture needs.

On the mat

Next time you’re in a long hold, like warrior II or a forward fold, ask:

• Where am I working harder than I need to?

• Where could I soften without losing the pose?

• Is my breath steady, or am I holding it?

If your breath is smooth, you’re probably in the sweet spot.

Off the mat

This is where the sutra can be really powerful. Most of us in London live at one extreme or the other: pushing through packed commutes and full diaries, or burning out and switching off completely.

Sthira sukham is a better question than “how do I do more?” or “how do I do less?” It asks: how do I stay steady and stay at ease? That might mean holding a firm boundary in a meeting with a calm voice. It might mean doing the hard task without bracing for it.

A simple practice

Sit for just 60 seconds, and let the spine lengthen. Scan for the places where you are holding on: the jaw, the shoulders, the root of the tongue, the hands. Release one at a time, keeping the spine tall and steady. that is the whole sutra, in one pini practice.

Join us at the Glasshouse for classes that explore this balance. Book Here