Asana

Generally �Asana� means a posture, a steady position of the body. There are special methods of working with one's body in order to prepare it for further stages of the spiritual work.

Systems of asanas and other exercises of this stage of work are collectively called �hatha yoga�. They also help one acquire initial concentration skills and provide an entry-level development of energetic structures of the organism. One should start doing asanas only after studying and accepting the principles of the previous stage.

Practicing hatha yoga without switching to a cruelty-free diet leads to coarsening of one's energy and to accumulation of coarse power, and this in turn leads one astray from the true Path.