The reason for starting to do yoga is often to make the body a bit fitter, and yoga may be seen as just another form of physical exercise. But the longer we do yoga, the clearer it becomes that there is much more to yoga than that.
Physical postures (asana) are an important element of yoga, but they are only the means to another end. By concentrating on the details of the postures, and attending to the effects that they have, we start to move into the mental aspects of yoga. Hence the theme for this term of Body Awareness.
A frequently quoted verse from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is one that defines asana as Sthira sukham asanam. This is variously translated as:
This combination of qualities begins with an acute awareness of every part of the body as the asana is performed. We need to cultivate a heightened sensitivity of action and reaction, and intelligent questioning – does this feel right or wrong?