When I heard about Yogyakarta the first time, I was sure it had something to do with Yoga. Then I looked into how the city was named. Yoga and Yogya are not related in any way and people say Jogja. Yogya is a variation of the word Ayodhya, Rama’s very own town. Ramayana is really huge in Indonesia.

However I did get my yoga fix in Borobudur, a few kilometers from Yogya. The temple made of black volcanic rocks is beyond words. It was like time had stopped. Instantly peaceful. A refreshing cold drink for the soul. I could not remember anything else and it was as if I had gone back in time. Like everything happening around me is in slow motion and I can remember every frame of it.

The mandala design of the temple with many levels makes way for an amazing walking meditation. The story of Borobudur depicts a pilgrim’s search for spiritual awakening. Each of the levels depict the process of the pilgrim attaining wisdom and a higher level of understanding through various stories depicting the life of Buddha.

The walk starts from the lower kama dhatu level or the world of desires to the nirvana level is all of five kilometers. That gives me enough time to ponder over the dramas of the life in the lower levels depicted in rupa dhatu or the world of forms. The sculptures are intricate. I noticed there were a lot of wasps buzzing around in some corners. As you go higher, the story depicted in the sculptures gets simpler and leads to arupa dhatu, world of no form. The drama is reduced and there is beauty in simplicity too. It gets more open and there are stupas with Buddha inside. I saw a lot of beautiful butterflies in the higher levels. These levels depict nirvana with just stupas. It is so peaceful up here even though there are quite of few people around.

I am happy that this mandala was intended as a permanent one unlike Tibetan Buddhist impermanent mandalas which serve a slightly different purpose. Borobudur was built in 9th century and there are plans to keep it going for another 1000 years. Borobudur is the largest Buddhist monument and represents the symbol of life journey.

It translates to being alert and comfortable. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra says that every asana practiced should have both these qualities. There must be alertness without tension and relaxation without dullness or lethargy.

The Yoga Sutra’s purpose of this verse is to explain how one can practice the asanas to reach the goal of Yoga (the asanas by themselves are just a means to Yoga), which is to still the mind, to observe, to prepare for meditation. Asanas have to be practiced with Sthiram Sukhamasanam.

If the breath is labored then there is no point in being in an asana. It is better to back off and do the pose to a degree that a person is capable of doing. If an already existing pain is stopping us to perform a pose, we can explore why such a pain exists. This leads to examining our habits to understand our habit patterns and ourselves.

On the other hand, one might feel the need to be in hanumanasana (full split) when one is not ready for the pose. Not paying attention to the phrase Sthiram Sukhamasanam can easily lead to yoga injuries. There should be ease, grace and beauty in the practice. There is a saying in yoga – no pain, no pain. There is definitely a world of difference between advancing step by step versus forcing to be in a pose which may lead to an injury eventually.

I read about Patanjali’s Sthiram Sukhamasanam in Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar.

Yoga Sutra refers to a beautiful image from Indian mythology to illustrate the concept. The story tells of Ananta, the king of snakes, floating on the ocean, his long snake body coiled to form a comfortable couch on which Vishnu lies. The snake’s thousand heads reach up and out like a protective umbrella over Vishnu. On the umbrella rests our earth.

The snake’s body is soft and gentle enough (sukha) to serve as a couch for a god and at the same time is firm and steady enough (sthira) to support the whole earth. We should endeavor to bring those same qualities of gentleness and steadiness to our asana practice, all the while making sure that we exert progressively less effort in developing them. The asana practice needs to be sensible and well structured, advancing step by step, developing our practice in accordance with our abilities.