Svadhyaya: Self-Study

I believe this is a truly important class and one worth revisiting in your yoga asana journey. While I agree that something can exist purely to be aesthetically beautiful, a closer look at the great artistic masterpieces of the world reveals so much more. They hold layers of emotion, thought, storytelling, personal reflection, and intentional choices in materials and composition- and they are beautiful.

In yoga asana, we are creating shapes with our bodies. But our bodies are more than just forms; they are home to our bones, muscles, tendons, genetics, skin, and the stories that make up our soul; our entire life essence. Because of this, our movements and poses deserve more consideration than simply achieving a beautiful shape. To sit with yourself, reflect on the purpose of a pose, and explore how you can adjust your form in a compassionate way to best serve that purpose. This is practicing yoga asana.

"Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law. Where function does not change, form does not change. The granite rocks, the ever-brooding hills, remain for ages; the lightning lives, comes into shape, and dies, in a twinkling.

It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law."

—Louis Sullivan, Architect, Mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright

Just as architecture and nature reveal that form follows function, so too does yoga asana. The beauty of a pose is not just in its appearance but in the purpose it serves for the body and soul.

Spice level: Medium

Spotify Playlist

Intro music: Willow by Moonweaver

Outro music: Glowstick by Deep Divers

Filmed at The Body Electric Yoga Co.