For me I am most fascinated by your statement of perfecting poses. Perhaps you could expound on this so I could more fully understand what you mean.
That having been said, there are two basic types of sciatica. And for this discussion I’ll term them “true” and “false” sciatica. True sciatica is when there is pressure on the sciatic nerve as a result of an “occurrence” in the lower lumbar vertebrae and/or upper sacral vertebrae (L4-S3). Let’s call this a spinal or structural issue.
False sciatic is when the piriformis is in spasm OR where the sciatic nerve actually passes through the piriformis (about 15% of the population). Let’s call this muscular.
Each of these has a different protocol for attention, relief, and healing.
Numbness is like any other experience in the human body. It is a sign of something going on, a call from the soul which is oft ignored by the body/mind. It is an indicator and requires attention. What that attention is and from where it originates obviously would differ from human to human. Some are effective at self-discovery while others are helped by a well trained third party.
If you want to stop your asana practice that is entirely up to you. It seems to me however that there are a myriad of others choices which are less radical including a more mindful practice, a more aligned practice, a practice that calms the body rather than aggravating it, and so on.
gordon
