Asana is a window that opens onto some of our deepest personal conditioning and the suffering it generates. In order to relax into things as they actually are, one must surrender every last drop of the internalized desire to feel good. That desire is shaped by our most cherished ideas about what constitutes good and bad, as well as by ingrained, organic perceptions of pain, pleasure, neutrality. Relaxing effort means letting go of limiting internal definitions. Simply put, in asana one must do less to be more.

The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali

A New Translation with Commentary by

Chip Hartranft