“Having practiced āsanas and prānāyāma for years, and having reached the optimum possible level in our practice, working with resistance, without resistance, observing and experimenting with our own reactions, it is possible for us to trace the meridians within the body and work on them on our own, without depending on another person’s help to get treatment. The original idea of Yoga is freedom and beatitude, and the by-products that come along the way, including physical health, are secondary for the practitioner. Nevertheless, we can observe how these by-products are brought into being and how the effects of the āsanas and prānāyāma percolate in the body, rejuvenating the cells and cellular system.
~~On Yoga as “The Healing Art” from Tree of Yoga by BKS Iyengar