Prayatna Shaithilya — Effortless Effort in Asana
Patanjali prescribes two complementary practices for mastering asana: relaxation of effort (prayatna shaithilya) and absorption in the infinite (ananta samapatti) — revealing that the highest yoga posture is not an achievement of force but a dissolution of efforting.
Sutra 2.47 prescribes the method for mastering asana: 'prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam' — through relaxation of effort and absorption in the infinite (ananta = endless, infinite). This is the paradox at the heart of asana practice: the harder you try to force the body into a posture, the more you create tension that prevents the posture. Genuine mastery of asana arises when effort is progressively released and the body is allowed to settle into alignment through the relaxation of unnecessary tension. The second element — ananta samapatti (absorption in the infinite) — is meditation on the infinite nature of space, awareness, and consciousness that transforms the limited body experience into a gateway to the boundless.
Through relaxation of effort and absorption in the infinite, asana is mastered.
Movement educator Moshe Feldenkrais's system — which teaches that effortless movement arises through the progressive removal of unnecessary muscular tension rather than through increased effort — provides a movement science framework for Patanjali's prayatna shaithilya principle.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Written about in
- What the Yoga Sutras say about the body
The method given for posture is the loosening of effort, not the addition of it. Force applied to the body creates the tension that keeps the posture out of reach.