What is important from a cultural sociological point of view is that the cultural field of the Shaman with its discourse, code, habitus, conflicts and polarities in many ways made yoga possible. I will return to this point again later on. What we have seen is the important role that asceticism played in these societies. The person who practised austerity was propelled into high status of the society undergoing transformation. In other words, asceticism had a strong symbolic meaning – it was perceived to enable the specialist to accumulate symbolic capital.
Thus we can conclude that asceticism provided an essential part of the code and habitus of Shamanism. It therefore makes sense to take a closer view of asceticism as embodying a code and habitus – a deeply interiorised mental pattern – which came to inform Northern Indian cultural DNA and especially conditioned the cultural fields where yoga emerged.
From the core of your pelvis, extend out through the Yoga positions thighs and up through the whole spine, still pressing your feet together. To intensify: Yoga positions Hold your ankles. Lean forward, with your spine long and all the actions of the legs continuing. Isometrically push your feet into your hands as if to straighten your knees. This will deepen the hip stretch. This forward bend stretches the back of the hips and legs. In helping to widen the pelvis, this pose takes pressure off of the inner edges of the hip sockets. Purpose: To stretch the quadriceps and hip flexors one leg at a time, improving hip extension.
