In asanas, our natural instinct is to shrink the muscles, and theydraw closer to the bones. This gripping of muscles in asanas is reflective of us holding on to our fears, desires, and failures. This action causes more harm than benefit. But, if we release the muscles to the sides and expand them, we experience calmness in the asanas.
There needs to be both vertical and horizontal expansion of muscles to find freedom in asanas. With a simple change in our approach,getting into the correct asanas will become second nature to us.Similarly, in life, a lot of our actions are based upon our fears, desires, and expectations. As a result, our mind getsinvolved in a myriad of likes and dislikes. All we have to do is free our mind from this bondage and perform actions with awareness.Let the mind observe and reflect on the body and its actions. This will lead to freedom.
Everyone wants to be free and not be tied down by the mind and its emotions. This is a big task as the mind is never still andwanders off like an unbridled horse. We need to play the role of a spectator and disown or dissolve the thoughts, emotions and feelings of the mind to attain a state of calmness, serenity and peace. For that, we need to channelize the mind through steps like Dharana and Dhyana. Guruji has been known to go to the extent of whacking the students to activate the muscles. This physical whack is like the one extremely challenging situation in life where you can just shoot up to success through channelizing your mind towards the goal.