Classical Yoga · compiled by Patanjali
Yoga Sutras 2.46
Sthira sukham asanam — steady and comfortable
स्थिरसुखमासनम्॥
Posture should be steady and comfortable.
What this verse points to
Three words are all Patanjali spends on posture. Not flexible, not impressive, not correct: steady and comfortable. Both are required, and they pull against each other, which is the whole instruction.
Steadiness alone becomes rigidity, and the body starts sending distress signals within minutes. Comfort alone becomes slump, and the mind follows the spine down. Posture is the ongoing negotiation between them.
Sit with it
Sit and adjust until you could genuinely hold this shape for twenty minutes. That is the position — not the one that looks most serious.
About the Yoga Sutras
The Yoga Sutras are 196 terse aphorisms compiled by Patanjali, organised into four books: samadhi (absorption), sadhana (practice), vibhuti (attainments), and kaivalya (liberation). The style is deliberately compressed — each sutra is a memory-thread meant to be unpacked by a teacher — and the text is the foundational statement of the eight-limbed (ashtanga) path.
References to this text are given as book.sutra — here, 2.46.