Horizons.
“When you say for example that asana is ‘nothing more than exercise,’”
I have not said that the asanas are nothing more than exercise. I have said that, limited to themselves, they are nothing more than just a series of exercises. When asanas are used in combination with other techniques, then they are of tremendous assistence in the transition into meditation.
“would you not agree that an asana practice would aid in mental / emotional well being and the potential to release trapped emotions in the body more than some kind of ‘standard’ physical exercise like going for a run, can?”
Not necessarily. Because what one derives out of the practice is not just a matter of what you are doing with the physical body. Unless there is a certain stream of awareness that is flowing throughout the practice, then these asanas are just mechanical. One is functioning just like a robot, or a program which is just running it’s usual course. And one can continues practicing the methods of yoga in this way for ages, it is not going to be of much help. But if you are using these methods as a way to integrate your awareness - then it is a totally different matter. That can be done anywhere. Even a single moment of naturalness far surpasses infinite mechanical training. So if you are going for a run, but you are doing it with absolute involvement in the present, with a certain fire of attention - then it may be far more useful for one’s expansion than doing asanas.
“And here we come to another aspect of the foundation asana may build as well as it being a direct aid in meditation.”
I would like to make it clear as to the origins of what one is calling “asana”. In it’s origins, it has nothing at all to do with these hundreds upon hundreds of postures which one may ordinarily be familiar with. It simply means “seat”, and it referred to the seat in which the yogi would be sitting for meditation. It involved nothing else, just sitting in a posture - either the lotus, or the half lotus, or siddhasana, and other such sitting postures. It was only much later that it was seen that perhaps there are other ways of controlling the body which may assist in meditation. So over time, it was discovered that different postures of the body create different changes in the way the subtle energies travel through the body which have different effects on the mind. But even in this expanded form - it’s focus was still the same, to create something for the discipline which will make his transition into meditation something which is less of a struggle, and more friendly, fluid, and relaxed.
“I believe anything that increases our sense of well being and brings us back into contact with our true self is 'spiritual development.”
For this, what is needed is to be capable of seeing beyond the likes and dislikes of the mind. Naturally, that which is pleasant and which you like is certain to be interpreted as assisting you towards your well being. But what one likes may be a hindrance for one’s expansion, and what one dislikes may be a stepping stone. But because you are prejudiced, one will not be able to discriminate between the two. So there is a great difference between what one thinks may be useful for one’s expansion, and the reality itself. That is why if one is interested in the work of the expansion of consciousness towards one’s awakening, then tremendous inquiry is needed. Without this inquiry, one cannot be called a seeker. To inquire means to investigate into oneself with a scientific attitude and come to a way of seeing things as they are, unclouded, without dust in one’s eyes.
“So in this sense, under my definition I would count asana as a method of spiritual development.”
It is just a tool, like any tool it can be used in a thousand and one ways. The tool is important in a certain way, but it’s effectiveness and the outcome of it’s use has more to do with the kind of hands which are using them. If it’s effectiveness lies in the tool itself - then by now every single person who has ever practiced an asana or sat for meditation would have become already come to their liberation. This matter should be crystal clear - that one should not be too attached to the methods themselves. They need to be impregnated with a certain spirit. In Zen, it is called “no-mind”. No-mind is not an absence of mind, it just means a mind which can function without attachment, free of the clinging activity of the mind. Once the clinging activity of the mind is out of the equation - then a certain alchemy happens - what was once mechanical has now become as spontaneous as a flash of lightning.
These methods, without one’s inner awareness, they are just mechanical. If you could train dogs and cats to do them, they would do them perfectly well.
