Maharishi Yoga Asanas

Maharishi Yoga Asanas ( MYA) enliven the profound connection between mind, body, and consciousness. Developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in collaboration with leading yoga āchāryas of India in the 1990s. The asanas are performed gently, with the attention resting on the pleasantness of each posture, allowing the mind and body to re-establish balance and harmony. Maharishi sought to restore the traditional role of yoga from the Vedic tradition. He saw MYA as the effortless integration of mind, body, and Self as a vitalising approach to health and wellbeing.

“The centuries-old medicine-predominated approach to health has failed to eliminate sickness and suffering; this is because medicine alone is too superficial to influence all the innumerable values that constitute the structure of life and its evolution. Only a holistic approach that takes into consideration all aspects of mind and body together can be successful in handling health." - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

“With each asana I move to a gentle stretch, hold, feel the stretch loosen and bliss flows through and around my whole body.” —SS

Key Features of MYA:

• Effortless Practice:

  Asanas are performed without strain or force, focusing on a gentle stretch and comfortable holding of the pose. 

• Holistic Approach:

  The practice encompasses various movements of the spine (forward, backward, sideways, and rotation) as well as lying, kneeling, sitting, and standing postures. 

• Emphasis on Rest:

  The practice alternates between gentle movement and rest, with a focus on experiencing both. 

• Turning Attention Within:

  A key aim of Maharishi Yoga Asanas is to gently stretch the body whilst turning the attention inward, fostering self-awareness and connection with one's inner self. 

• No Flexibility Prerequisites:

  Flexibility is not a requirement; the emphasis is on finding a comfortable and natural stretch in each pose. 

Background and Origin

Yoga (meaning union in Sanskrit) is an ancient tradition that seeks ‘union’ or integration of body, mind, and spirit. References to yoga appear as early as the Vedas and Upanishads, and by the time of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (about 2,000 years ago), yoga was described as a complete path to inner stillness and liberation. Later traditions such as Hatha Yoga (9th–11th centuries) introduced physical postures and breathing techniques to purify and strengthen the body for meditation.

Patanjali defined asana in his Yoga Sutras, as a posture that is steady and comfortable or pleasant, helping the body and mind settle into silence. The makes can be seen as a kind of meditation for the body itself.

Maharishi Yoga Asanas (MYA) were developed initially in the early 1960s when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi worked with Dr Hari Krishna, a respected yoga expert, to create simple, natural sequences. They used many postures from the Hatha Yoga tradition, which they fine-tuned and adjusted to keep teh approach gentle and to prepare the body for meditation and support balance in daily life. The approach was further refined with experts of both yoga and ayurveda in the 1990s. The result is an amazing, gentle, natural approach to enlivening the body's health and intelligence from the surface physical level of bones, muscles and joints to the subtlest levels of awareness and energy that connect the mind and body with totality.

Today, MYA can be practised as:

• A short home routine (5–10 minutes)

• A full group class (45–60 minutes)

The Gentle and restorative Maharishi Yoga Asanas are a great complement to a balanced and healthy life as they release stress, improve flexibility, and reconnect the physiology with the deepest levels of consciousness.

Benefits

Many doctors now recommend yoga as part of a daily health regime, and there is a growing body of research on the poses used in Maharishi Yoga Asanas, suggesting the regular practice supports: Yoga has scientifically proven positive effects that include:

• improved physiological balance and mind-body coordination

• better digestion and sleep

• improved heart health and metabolism

• normalisation of blood pressure

• easing back pain 

• improved spinal mobility

• muscle relaxation

• development of alertness and the power of discrimination

• better self-reflection

• improved concentration

• experience of inner calmness and peace

• better posture and body awareness

• release of tension and fatigue

• increased vitality and balance

• greater integration of mind and body

The asanas are not performed as physical exercise alone, but as a means of refining the connection between mind, body and consciousness. They are also a great preparation for other practices of yoga, such as pranayama and meditation.

Selected Quotes on the Broader Aspects of Yoga

• Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2nd c. BCE–2nd c. CE)

  “Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ” — “Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.”
  — Yoga Sutras, 1.2

• Bhagavad Gita (c. 2nd c. BCE)

  “Yoga is skill in action.”
  — Bhagavad Gita, 2.50

  “A person is said to be established in yoga when he is content in the Self alone and rests satisfied within the Self.”
  — Bhagavad Gita, 6.20

• Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th c.)

  “Asanas are the first step of Hatha Yoga. Having mastered them, one becomes firm, free from disease, and light of body.”
  — Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 1.17

• Katha Upanishad (c. 5th c. BCE)

  “When the senses are stilled, when the mind is at rest, when the intellect wavers not — then, say the wise, one is established in yoga.”
  — Katha Upanishad, 2.3.10

  Modern Voices

• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (20th c.)

  “Yoga means union — unity of the individual life with the cosmic life, unity of activity with silence, unity of the inner with the outer.”
  — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Science of Being and Art of Living“

• Swami Vivekananda (1890s)

  “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy — by one, or more, or all of these — and be free.”
  — Raja Yoga, 1896

• Sri Aurobindo (20th c.)

  “Yoga is not a religion; it is a science of self-development, a method of raising ourselves to higher levels of consciousness.”
  — The Synthesis of Yoga

• B. K. S. Iyengar (1918–2014)

  “Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.”
  — Light on Yoga (1966)

• T. K. V. Desikachar (1938–2016)

  “The success of yoga does not lie in the ability to perform postures, but in how it positively changes the way we live our life and our relationships.”
  — The Heart of Yoga (1995)

• Indra Devi (1899–2002)

  “Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquillity and joy.”
  — Forever Young, Forever Healthy (1953)

• Jon Kabat-Zinn (b. 1944)

“Yoga is the practice of inhabiting the body with awareness, moment to moment, and in so doing, befriending ourselves at the deepest level.”
— Coming to Our Senses (2005)