Quiet Body, Quiet Mind
The Yoga Sutras explain that the vritti, or whirling, state of the mind will be stilled by a combination of two things: 1) abhyasa, or practice, and 2) vairagya, or dispassion. Let's look at vairagya. This means to not become attached to the fruits of our labor. We want to "be good at" yoga, which translates to us wanting to "get" poses. But yoga is a state of being, not a bunch of poses. With vairagya comes a quieting down of the mind and the body that leads us closer to a state of yoga.
Let's say we try to detach from the fruits - put down those bananas! When we work a pose, should we not try to get the pose? Hmm. Then what are we working? Well, we're working the actions of a pose whether we get into it or not. Think of not quite being able to get your legs into full lotus pose but still working in that direction. The idea is that you're studying yourself. You're studying, in this case, how your legs and hips work. You're also studying what happens in the rest of your body and in your mind while you're trying to figure out this crazy pose. Perhaps your jaw tightens, perhaps you feel fearful. What is it that's stopping you from getting into the pose? Maybe it's your hips or your ankles. But what is it about the hips? Are they tight and need loosening? Or do you need to figure out a different technique to get them to move the way required for the pose?
How does any of this reorganizing and strengthening and loosening still the whirling mind? When you focus yourself toward how your body works, the mind's chatter diminishes as you study. Quiet body, quiet mind. This is why yoga is a practice - so we can revisit ourselves every day to become aware. The fruits of our labor are fun - especially the pineapples - and being in a pose can lead us to new discoveries. But it's the journey of quieting down that's so sweet. There are so many things to find out about yourself along the way. It would diminish your work to let your yoga practice become a string of performed poses. If being in a state of yoga is the goal, then poses are a minimal detail.