You cannot meditate well in a body that is shouting. This is the entire practical reason asana exists: not to look impressive, but to make the body quiet enough that it stops interrupting.
There is a second, stranger observation, repeated by practitioners for centuries. Hold a difficult pose long enough and the mind produces the same excuses it produces in a difficult conversation. Same voice, same tone, same escape routes. The mat is a laboratory with better lighting.
Why asana belongs to meditation, and what a stiff hip has to do with a stiff opinion.
Work patiently with a stiff hip and you learn something transferable about a stiff opinion. Both loosen with attention, breath and time. Neither loosens with force.
