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Early on February 1, one thing uncommon and maybe unprecedented occurred. On-line searches for the phrase “sitting meditation pose” surged actually 1000’s of occasions greater than is seen on a typical Thursday morning, in line with Google Tendencies. Curiously, the vast majority of searchers weren’t looking for enlightenment and even find out how to quiet their ideas. They had been looking for a five-letter reply to the three-word clue “sitting meditation pose” from the New York Occasions crossword puzzle, which had been launched hours earlier.
Apparently in crossword puzzle circles, the Thursday NYT crossword puzzle is thought to be one in every of the extra confounding of the week. As a kindness to readers, solutions to pick out clues are revealed in its Wordplay column, printed day by day together with the crossword puzzle. The reply to “sitting meditation pose” was amongst them. [Spoiler alert: You’re about to learn the answer.]
Columnist Deb Amlen wrote:
“The distinction between a definition and a crossword clue is {that a} definition should clarify one thing exactly, no extra, no much less. A crossword clue, particularly one which seems in a late-week puzzle, has a bit extra wiggle room, and the clue ‘Sitting meditation pose’ is an efficient instance. The reply, ASANA, merely means “pose,” so it may very well be any hatha yoga pose, together with however not restricted to the seated ones.”
Technically, the crossword clue isn’t improper. It’s really fairly good. However the definition of “asana” within the accompanying column might immediate some questions amongst these acquainted with yoga or Sanskrit (and Amlen’s use of “merely” might elevate some eyebrows).
Arundhati Baitmangalkar, a self-described Indian immigrant, yoga trainer, host of the Let’s Speak Yoga podcast, and yoga nerd, explains “Asana basically means ‘seat,’” she says. “And initially, that seat was supposed for meditation.”
At the moment, there have been no yoga poses as we all know them at present, says Baitmangalkar (who isn’t a crossword individual). “The one pose that existed for yogis 1000’s of years in the past was the sitting meditation pose, whether or not they had been asking you to take a seat for meditation or another type of contemplation.”
It was solely in current centuries that varied postures had been launched to the lexicon of yoga. As such, asana has develop into a well-known and catchall phrase, supposed to differentiate bodily yoga from the much less bodily points of yoga.
So though Amlen’s definition of asana may be ever so barely incomplete, taking a cue from the traditional teachings of yoga reminds us to have a look at the intention behind each the clue and the column, which is to coax readers to contort their brains, not their our bodies, in order to understand the world barely otherwise. Simply as what occurs in meditation.
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