Today I feel alignment as a fundamental pillar of asana practice. But it was not always like that. In my first classes, as a student and in my moments of self-practice, I barely knew my body. I moved more on autopilot. Over time, I began to listen more deeply to the guidance of my teachers, and to discover an inner sense of lightness and stability. It was as if the body found a familiar and safe place, a healthy space, not forced or overworked.
I was learning to give my body the placement in which it really felt comfortable. And in this day and age, that is no small thing. Over time I also realised that, when I allowed it, it was the body itself - with its innate intelligence - that guided my anatomical structure and calmed my mind.
My first yoga classes were when I was 13 or 14. My mother had started practising and took me with her to the room of an Iyengar teacher who had set up a studio in the garage of her house, about five blocks from ours, in the neighbourhood of Flores, in Buenos Aires. I remember going in and seeing all those elements: kuruntas, blocks, blankets, bolsters, belts... everything was strange and new to me. What I liked the most was the feeling after the practice. I felt that I started to get in touch with my body in a different, deeper way.
My mother had always introduced me to the holistic and energetic world, through meditation or alternative therapies such as reiki or regression therapy. But it was in those first yoga classes that I first discovered a spiritual connection to the body. The body as a vehicle.
Eventually I moved towards more dynamic practices, such as vinyasa and ashtanga. It was good for me to practice before going to work, or to dedicate some time to my self-practice at the beginning of the day. At that time I lived in Buenos Aires, worked as a lawyer and had a rhythm that I wouldn't choose today (although I don't deny it either, because in a way I am content with it). But the truth is that I transferred that same acceleration to practice: I practised with the same speed and unconsciousness with which I lived, without really stopping to explore in depth.
In the meantime, yoga became my "yes or yes" of the day, my non-negotiable space. And as it happens, all roads lead to Rome: years later, after my first training in India in 2016, at the age of 25, I met Norberto and Maribel, who became my teachers in a second Hatha training with elements strongly influenced by the Iyengar tradition.
And there, the idea of alignment took on a new meaning.
With Maribel and Norberto's guidance I embarked on a journey into every corner of my physical body. Their indications were subtle and at the same time precise, profound, revealing. I began to close my ribs in adho mukha svanasana so as not to sink into my back and fall towards the floor. I understood more clearly the rotation of the shoulders, the multiple directions that coexist in each posture, the art of sharpening the gaze.
It was like starting again from scratch... or even more challenging, because it involved dismantling beliefs that I felt strongly held and learned, and allowing something completely new to reveal itself.
In 2020 I met Sebastián Arbondo, through the girls of Amaryyo Yoga in Gran Canaria, and it was like a third "starting from scratch".
His view of practice, his ideas and his indications were not completely alien to me - after all, everything is connected and we speak the same language. But they did make me rethink a lot of things. There were times when I thought: "Again? I don't know anything again? And in that apparent confusion there was also clarity: the certainty that the path of yoga is inexhaustible, that it always renews itself, and that each stage invites us to dismantle certainties in order to learn again from a deeper place.
With Sebastian I learnt that alignment is not just an aesthetic or visual issue, but a way to take care of the body and to inhabit it with more awareness. When the body is aligned, bones, joints and muscles work together more efficiently and safely. This means protection - especially for sensitive areas such as the spine, shoulders, wrists and knees - stability and balance, and the ability to hold a posture for longer without excessive strain.
Good alignment also opens up space for the breath to flow better. When the body is organised, the diaphragm and lungs can expand more freely, the breath becomes deeper and with it, everything becomes more present.
But alignment is not just physical. There is also an internal alignment: that feeling that the vital energy, the prana, circulates more fluidly; that body and mind are in one place; that being in the posture becomes an act of mindfulness. Alignment, understood in this way, is not rigidity, but the possibility of inhabiting the body with greater clarity and awareness. To move in an intelligent, logical and at the same time caring, loving and healthy way.
I invite and propose that the next time you find yourself practising, don't think so much about "placing" your body in an external form. Rather, ask yourself: how does my body feel here, now? Perhaps you will discover true alignment from the inside and that will be reflected on the outside.
Thank you for reading, for making it this far.
Tami
