At some point the asana practice becomes less about the physical body, and more of an experience of the living energy, the prana or 気. This life force is all pervasive and its strength is boundless.
If you do not obtain this experience the practice remains nothing more than exercise, which may sometimes seem like a chore. This will often result in you not feeling like doing the practice, or doing the practice half-heartedly, or with your mind elsewhere, which is usually how we get injured.
Self-awareness is where the asana practice is leading you, but this awareness has to be cultivated just like when you started learning the postures and you had to develop the physical awareness just to be able to make the shapes with your bodies.
As advanced students and as instructors we most be clear in how we relate to the asanas, as tools to learn about and understand ourselves more fully and deeply, not merely at the surface level of physical appearance.
understanding and teaching alignment with a primary focus on creating an experience of free flow of breath energy. we will practice providing assistance to facilitate a more stable (stira) and comfortable (sukham) expression of the postures.
Patanjalis Yoga sutras, the ancient text on the practice of Yoga. we will chant and discuss selected sutras from the Sadhana Pada. the 2nd Chapter, Patanjali explains the eight limbs, and how to proceed in the practice. this will be followed by a short pranayama sequence
practice to develop the necessary balance of strength and flexibility to be able to breathe freely in the asanas, and move through all the vinyasas with fluidity.
Yoga means to be Union, while working with a partner, you can deepen your own sense of unity, through both physical contact, and combining of breath by Listening to your partner. Ultimately when you assist another in their practice, you want to bring a shared intention of working together, as opposed to working on someone else, or correcting someone elses posture.