In this session, we explore the third and fourth Asana Principles — Foundation First and Awaken the Spine — through a detailed study of standing postures, shoulder stand, and the foundations of headstand. You’ll learn how to use your long, strong limbs as living levers that connect to the earth, support the spine, and open the doorway to deeper balance and energetic flow. We work to centralize the spine within every position, discovering the subtle power of alignment and extension. The class culminates in a talk on Yoga Sutra II.47–48, linking the physical work to Ananta Samāpattiḥ — meditation on the infinite — and Tato Dvandva Anabhigataḥ, freedom from the pull of opposites. David shows how this pursuit of length and strength in the limbs becomes a direct way of experiencing infinity through the body. The session closes with a reading from the Upanishads, where the teaching takes the form of the bow and arrow: “Take up the bow of the Upanishad, and let reverence be the well-fitted arrow. Draw it with your mind fixed on the imperishable, your aim unwavering. OM is the bow, the self is the arrow, Brahman is the target. Strike, my friend, strike—and like the arrow lodged in its mark, you too shall be lodged in That.” This final reflection brings the practice full circle — from the physical act of grounding through the limbs and spine to the inner act of striking the target of truth, uniting body, mind, and the infinite.