There is a quiet moment that happens every morning at Prakruti Yogashala in Rishikesh, just before practice begins. Mats are rolled out, the Ganga air is still cool, and there’s a hush in the shala that feels almost sacred. Some students stretch casually, some stare at the floor, mentally preparing for what their bodies will soon attempt. And then there are a few—the ones who stand a little differently. Not with ego, but with reverence. You can almost sense it—the difference between a person trying to achieve a pose and a person trying to understand it.
This is where the real journey of advanced asanas begins—not with flexibility or strength, but with bhava… an inner attitude.
Not Every Advanced Pose is Yoga
In modern yoga culture, deep postures like Hanumanasana, Mayurasana, or Eka Pada Sirsasana are often treated as medals of achievement. Something to post, something to be proud of. But in the traditional understanding, taught by yogis here in Rishikesh for generations, advanced asanas are not about “how far” but “how honestly” one can enter them.
You can force yourself into Hanumanasana and still not touch yoga.
You can barely move and yet be deeply inside the practice.
The difference lies in three qualities that Patanjali hints at—Tapas (discipline), Shraddha (devotion/faith), and Ishvarapranidhana (surrender).
Tapas — Showing Up, Even When the Body Resists
Tapas is not punishment. It is not pushing until you tear something. Tapas is consistency with dignity. At Prakruti Yogashala, we often remind students: “It is not about how intensely you practice today, but how lovingly you return tomorrow.”
The body opens like a flower—not by force, but by steady invitation.
Advanced postures reveal one simple truth: you cannot hide from yourself. You meet your impatience, your frustration, your habits of giving up too soon. And this meeting—that is tapas.
Shraddha — Practicing With the Heart, Not the Ego
A student once asked, “How long will it take me to master Mayurasana?” The teacher smiled and replied, “When you stop asking that question.”
That is Shraddha—a quiet trust in the process. You don’t rush, you don’t measure. You let the practice mature you instead of trying to control the timeline.
At Prakruti Yoga in Rishikesh, we often say during our yoga teacher training courses—“Don’t practice to prove. Practice to listen.” When students approach advanced asanas like an offering instead of a conquest, something shifts. The pose stops being a performance and becomes a prayer.
Ishvarapranidhana — The Art of Letting the Pose Happen Through You
There is a moment, just before entering a deep posture, where you realize: doing more is not the answer—feeling more is.
This is where surrender begins.
You align, you engage, you breathe—and then you stop interfering.
The body softens, the nervous system unclenches, and suddenly… there is space.
This is where yoga lives—in that gap between effort and grace.
A Practice Rooted in Rishikesh
Here in Rishikesh, where sages once practiced by the riverbanks, advanced asanas were never about aesthetics. They were tests—not of flexibility, but of ego and devotion. Practicing here, in a place where mantra, silence, and discipline still echo in the air, you begin to feel what real yoga means.
At Prakruti Yogashala, when students attempt advanced postures during 200 hour yoga teacher training or self-practice sessions, we remind them gently:
“Bend the body if it bends… but bend the mind first.”
The Real Mastery
To hold an advanced pose with a tight jaw, stiff breath, and a racing mind is just exercise.
To attempt a pose with steady breath, soft eyes, and sincere awareness—that is sadhana.
May your advanced asana practice not just open your hips or strengthen your arms,
but open your inner gaze towards humility, devotion, and surrender.
