Asana

From The Maze Where Realities Converge - the psychedelic encyclopedia of reality from The Ultimate Comment

If you attempt meditation, 'astral projection' or any other exercise requiring deeeeep concentration, you'll find that your focus is impeded by bodily sensations. You'll get itches, aches, sensations from your guts, proprioceptive signals (i.e. your nervous system's messages about the position of your body) and even the lightest pressure will seem, after half an hour or so, like you're being crushed by some sort of steel robotic crushifier. It's no good moving, shifting your weight or scratching your itches, as this will distract the mind even more.

Asana is a practise which will conquer these sensations, freeing your mind from your body so you can get on with your mental exercises. The goal of asana is a state in which no sensation from the body reaches consciousness. We'll call this state akinesthesia. The mastery of asana is a prerequisite to all mysticism.

For asana, you start by sitting in a position that seems comfortable. The idea that an asana is some kind of gymnastic or contortionist hold is totally against the purpose of what we're trying to acheive here: absolute comfort. Long ago, Hindu mystics discovered the value of holding a simple position, and then, in their usual, scientific, systematic way, set about overcomplicating it beyond all utility. Here comes The Ultimate Comment to make it all better:

A good asana should have the following qualities:

• It allows the spine to be straight, to allow the respiratory muscles to work unimpeded and stop cramps from occuring in the back.
• It leaves the arms free. (They are needed for some breathing exercises and symbolic gestures.)
• It is stable and solid
• It's comfortable

For meditation, sitting positions are the best. Most people don't relax enough when standing, and relax too much lying down.

• Half-lotus is not recommended, as it holds one hip higher than the other, causing asymmetry which will interfere with good posture.
• Full-lotus is often considered the best asana, as it requires the pelvis to be held upright and this supports the spine. It is completely solid; there's no way you can sway forwards, backwards or to either side. The problem is that bending your knees sideways will lead to damage in the long term.
• Seiza is a very good asana, but the pressure becomes unbearable when practised on a hard surface. You may find this variation more tolerable, or not. Seiza done with a cushion or seiza bench makes for a pretty perfect asana. Seiza (all varients) have the advantage of stressing the lower abdomen, which helps focus breathing and attention in meditation.
• The Burmese position is recommended. It is not quite as solid as the full lotus, but will become solid enough with practise. To assume the Burmese position, sit on the ground. Pull one heel into under your genitals. (Fellas - for the love of God, make sure that your heel does not touch your balls. After a while, this will feel like a rhinocerous and a sledgehammer are attacking your testes. You may think it improper of me to say now that you should rest your sack on top of your heel, but you'll thank me for it later.) Pull the other foot in so the sole rests along the shin of the inside foot. Adjust the positioning of the outer foot so that both knees touch the ground. (You may not, at first be flexible enough to do this. Fear not, for a very sure and quick method of gaining flexibility is described here. Until you gain such flexibility, put a cushion under your buttocks.) Because Burmese does not support the spine very much, you need to be very vigilant that your posture doesn't droop forward. Push your buttocks back and your waist forward so that you pelvis is vertical. This will support the spine nicely.
• Sit in a chair. (You don't need instructions for how to do that, do you?!)
• The Corpse asana is really comfortable, but you might become torpid. It's not ideal for meditation, but good for exercises and workings requiring more relaxation.

Now you need to get your posture perfect. This takes a lot of work. Here we go:

• Different schools say different things about the positioning of the tongue and mouth. You can put your tongue in the position like you were saying the letter 'd' and press your molars together gently. Or you can let your jaw go slack. Find out what works for you. Either way, you should swallow saliva at the beginning and expel the air from your mouth. A vacuum in the mouth will slow down salivation and you'll be distracted by the swallowing reflex less often.
• Your anus, navel, solar plexus, the centre of your chest, your throat, your nose, the centre of your forehead and the point of your skull should all be in a perfect vertical line.
• Tuck your chin in slightly. Stretch your head up, like you were trying to touch the roof.
• When viewed from the side your ears should be directly above the highest point of your shoulders.
• Push your waist forward. This is very important to keeping good posture. You won't be able to breath right if your waist falls back. Push your buttocks back so that your pelvis is upright, otherwise your posture will slouch forwards and you'll get pain in the back of the neck and lower back.

Any fault in your posture will soon announce itself as an uncomfortable tension in the shoulders, neck or back. If you get a cramp in your back and it doesn't go away after a few minutes - particularly if you consistently get it in the same place - you probably have to correct your posture.

OK, you're in your asana. Stay like that. I'll be back in six hours...... How was that? You didn't let you spine sag did you? You kept your head nearly on the ceiling, right? Good boy. Have a Scooby snack. You need to practise this complete motionlessness as much as possible. Four to six hours a day would be lovely, but do at least one hour a day. Don't move a finger. Don't move your tongue, except when you have to to swallow saliva. Definitely don't move your spine or back.

The kinesthetic sensation reaching your consciousness will be minimised by a good asana. There is no movement to be detected. You should practise on an empty stomach, so your guts won't send you distracting signals. You should practise wearing loose clothing. (Or practise naked, but only if you're sexy.) Sit away from draughts, wind, heat and cold. There should now be no kinesthetic sensations reaching you except for minor ones of proprioception, skin tension and a few internal sensations.
Now, when you practise your chosen asana for hours and hours a day, you'll notice something marvellous happening. While the practise had initially made you hypersensitive and wracked with pain, you will soon start to feel that the asana is the only possible comfortable position. You will feel a physical comfort that you have never felt before in your life. That is the first result.
The second result is athe complete dropping off of all physical sensation, including proprioception and perception of temperature, so that the consciousness of the student is concerned only with the non-physical.

Aleister Crowley writes,
"Perhaps the reward is not so far distant: it will happen one day that the pain is suddenly forgotten, the fact of the presence of the body is forgotten, and one will realize that during the whole of one’s previous life the body was always on the borderland of consciousness, and that consciousness a consciousness of pain; and at this moment one will further realize with an indescribable feeling of relief that not only is this position, which has been so painful, the very ideal of physical comfort, but that all other conceivable positions of the body are uncomfortable. This feeling represents success.
There will be no further difficulty in the practice. One will get into one’s Asana with almost the same feeling as that with which a tired man gets into a hot bath; and while he is in that position, the body may be trusted to send him no message that might disturb his mind."