Our diamond seat - Vajrāsana

Today I wondered why do yoga teacher trainings still insist that yoga can be understood through English translations and western thinking (completely made up)? Don’t get me wrong on my journey I have ‘done’ many many yoga teacher training’s and yes they have taught me some things. But, I believe now Yoga is as far from an academic discipline as you can possibly get. So surely it is time that folks stopped trying to fit a round peg into a square box.  Yoga is a living, oral tradition revealed through sound, silence, breath, movement and stillness.  Yoga is a feeling, a direct experience, a liberation (Kaiyvalam). Yet students are handed texts, stripped of vibration, of their senses, of their feeling, and asked to think their way into something that was never meant to live in thought at all, just in feeling, and self-enquiry.  You can now even get a yoga teacher training certificate on-line (so not ok), without even spending time with an embodied teacher, the thought just baffles. Yoga is a true craft of embodiment, which cannot be done any other way apart from living it.

What happens then? Disconnection. Boredom. Dictatorships, Cults. (I could go on!) A quiet belief that we/they are “not clever enough.” to remember what? After all it is what we already know, deep down, deep within. We forget that Sanskrit is the teaching of life (we just need help to re-align, re-tune, re-member—this is yoga that is felt, resonated, embodied, through all layers. Realising we are the dance and the song. Some would reduced this to modules, essays, and concepts, a vibrant path of liberation calcifies into ashes on two-dimensional pages. This is what the West does well (numbness, disassociation, fast asleep, dead (but still making noise)). And it is why we were drawn East to the lived experience of Yoga, with all its colour and flavour. 

Reading has its place, of course it has—but only after a fundamental shift in how we understand who we are, what we are, where we are. Taking our comfortable seat within the living knowledge herself. Yoga is uncovered for us by the breath, will, and intention, through lived enquiry, not imposed ideas, but exploration in our own landscape (shamanism taught me that!). If you teach, teach only from what you have experienced, in-habited, truly lived. Just look outside our window… yoga is life. 

So let us stop outsourcing our authority. Let us stop quoting the writing of long dead men, unless of course it has moved us personally, and then quote away, please do.

Listen. Sound. Move. Silence. Still. Feel. Liberate. ourselves. Let experience lead.

We are the living expression of yoga—from the inside out. Yoga meets us exactly where we are. Just some of us show up, and regain our own personal sovereignty right here right now. Atha अथ 'now' (begins); an auspiciousness. So let us do that... let us begin.

वज्रासन Vajrāsana Sanskrit to English transliteration: Vajra = thunderbolt, diamond, indestructible clarity, āsana  = to take the comfortable seat of...

So Vajrāsana translates to “the comfortable seat of the thunderbolt” or “diamond seat.” It is considered as a mediative tool not just a Western interpretation of āsana.

Vajrāsana Improves Digestion

This is the only yoga pose traditionally recommended after eating.

• Sitting on the heels gently compresses the abdomen (so do it, feel it)

• Blood flow is directed toward the stomach and intestines (so feel it)

• Supports digestion, absorption, and reduces bloating and acidity (and so feel it)

This is why it is often translated as the “digestive pose.”

Vajrāsana strengthens the lower body

• Stretches the ankles, tops of the feet, knees, and thighs enabling more mobility and the lessening of laying down earth (too much solidity) in these spaces

• Strengthens the pelvic floor and lower spine

• Encourages archetypal re-alignment of the legs and feet over time

With regular practice, it builds resilience in the knees and ankles (when entered gradually and pain-free (so be kind to ourselves)).

Vajrāsana improves posture & spinal health

• Our energectic chimney stacks beautifully upright to support the spine and our inner torso tubes/channels

• Encourages awareness of neutral pelvis and spinal length as the original archetype

• Reduces slouching and supports the natural rising of abdominal out of the lumbar spine

It is a foundational pose for meditation because it 'remembers' the body how to sit effortlessly tall. Plugging in to the energy that is freely gifted to us from mother earth and father sky.

Vajrāsana calms the nervous system

• The stillness of the pose signals safety to the body

• Supports parasympathetic (rest, digest & repair) activation (boosted by eyes closed)

• Teaching us to be calm but without collapsing.

• Lowers stress and physical restlessness

Energetically Vajrāsana activates the root & sacral cakras

Vajrasana strongly influences:

• Muladhara (Root Chakra) – grounding, stability, safety, patience, quiet strength rather than outward effort, an inner steadiness

• Svadhisthana (Sacral Chakra) – digestion, flow, emotional balance of the seen and unseen (all needs to be processed)

Vajrāsana directs prana upward through the spine

• The folded legs form an energetic “seal” in the lower body. Knees and shins grounding, containment, signals safety to the nervous system, anchoring energy downward. Using the sitting bones and the heel bones (solid structure) amplify this massively in true grounding resonance gifting us an inner charging of our battery so we may move forward fully sated.

• Energy that might leak downward is redirected upward. Supports the flow of prana through Sushumna Nadi (central energetic channel)

• Upright spine means lungs can expand fully. Abdomen relaxed but supported, breath naturally deepens

This encourages slow, rhythmic breathing rather than forced control.

Vajrāsana Balances Apana & Prana Vayu (winds)

Energetically, this is a big one:

• Apana Vayu (downward-moving energy) becomes regulated

• Prana Vayu (upward-moving energy) becomes clearer and steadier

This has a massive effect on our safety and the ability to act in the world for the most subtle space to ensure win win in every interaction.

When these two are balanced:

• Digestion improves

• Mental clarity increases

• Emotional grounding deepens

Our invitation this week is a walk through of how to practice this posture, take your most comfortable seat that you can to bring you into the best archetype of Vajrāsana (that is available for you today). Take what support you need (see notes below) This creates a beautifully crafted container for prana (life force), so breathe deeply, and invite the body to become stiller than it is now, a steady vessel for awareness and prana and see what this comfortable seat brings forth for you.

Gentle Guide Notes

• If knees or ankles are sensitive, place a block or cushion between calves and thighs

• If the ankles do not want to open roll up a blanket and pop it in the crook at the top of the anke and the mat

• Pain is not part of the pose, only when we envoke safety and comfort in our lived experience allows energy to flow.  Pain brings tension and holding so nothing can flow we just freeze.

• There should be a sense of rootedness without heaviness (please consult me, your yoga teacher if this is not your reality)

• Vajrāsana is especially supportive for people who feel floaty, anxious, or ungrounded during meditation

• Practice 2–5 minutes every day and feel this pose's powerful effects

Vajrāsana Diaphragmatic (Yogic) Breathing

• Breath naturally drops into the belly

• Supports digestion and calms the mind

• Excellent after meals or before meditation

Energetically: nourishes Apana Vayu and stabilizes the lower chakras.

Vajrāsana Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing)

• Vajrāsana keeps the spine steady and energy contained

• Balances Ida & Pingala nadis (left and right major energy channels that ends at the nostril openings)

• Prepares the mind for mantra or meditation

Energetically: clears pathways so prana (life force) can rise smoothly.

So play with them all and see how you feel,

Hari Om Tat Sat x