What Is Yoga

~ What is Yoga ~

One the fastest growing fitness areas is yoga. Increasingly yoga is being sought out as a form of exercise, and stress management. Yoga props such as mats, yoga blocks, and videos can be found in Chapters, Amazon.com, Walmart and other retail outlets.  Yoga studios are popping up everywhere in Toronto and scientific literature is beginning to appear that demonstrates potentially significant health benefits.

Yoga is an ancient physical practice combined with philosophical teachings that can teach us how we might live our lives with greater contentment and less suffering.  Yoga means “to join” or “to yoke”. Since yoga has both a physical and spiritual practice, “the join” refers to a conscious union of mind, body and spirit.

Yoga originated in India about 5000 years ago and its teaching passed on orally from a teacher to a student. Written teachings emerged sometime around 200 B.C. It is not necessary to understand or practice the spiritual teachings which historically were connected to Yoga but for the sake of completeness, I will include a brief history to provide some context.

One of the best known works on Yoga is called the Bhagavad Gita, and is believed to have been written around 500 B.C.. The Bhagavad Gita tells the story of a conversation between the god of Hinduism, who is called Krishna, and a prince whose name is Arjuna. Prince Arjuna finds himself in conflict with family and friends and is faced with the dilemma of whether to engage in battle with those around him. The particular dilemma can be viewed as a metaphor for the ways in which we struggle with what is beyond our control as opposed to seeking love, compassion and acceptance of what is present. Through Arjuna’s conversation with Krishna,  Arjuna discovers how yoga and meditation can transform his relationship to the world he lives in.  Arjuna ultimately finds a transformation that leads to contentment. The story can be a heavy read and  is not likely a story most will want to dive into. It contains a great deal of wisdom, which some will find difficult to relate to because of the “religious” context in which the story unfolds.  At least from my perspective the Hindu god “Krishna” is a metaphor for something greater than ourselves in the universe. I have chosen to interpret “Krishna” as that which represents the universal wisdom that we all have access to, if we take the time to seek it.  Yoga philosophy does not require you to believe in any religion and its wisdom is replicated in all the world’s major religions. Whenever I look at the spiritual underpinnings of most if not all religions, I have found that they share a virtually identical foundation.

Sometime around 200 A.C. a work known as the Sutras was written by Pantajali. It describes an eight limb path which might be described as a spiritual path to finding contentment in life. Following these spiritual teachings does not require a belief in a specific god and the spiritual principles contained in this eight limb path of yoga are again shared by all the world’s major religions. I hope to add an article describing this eight limb path in the near future.  In the interim a search on the internet will provide an abundance of information on the subject.  The yoga sutras describes all beings as consisting of a physical being and a spiritual being. Our physical beings can be viewed as containers for our spirit / soul. According to the sutras, the goal of yoga is to learn to know the physical and spiritual part of our beings as different yet connected entities. In other words, I am not my physical being, material assets, or ego, but I am my soul, which transcends the material and physical world. The sutras teach that the better able I am to transcend the physical and material attachments, the more bliss, joy and contentment I will experience. An often quoted section of this Sanskrit scripture is “citta vritti nirodhah”. The translation amounts to say that yoga is the practice of becoming aware of and transcending the busy waves of the mind. Most of us have probably noticed how cluttered the mind can become, filled with thoughts related to accomplishing, multi-tasking, worry about what did already or worrying about the future holds. According to the Yoga Sutras, yoga has the potential to help calm our agitated minds.

From a practice perspective yoga can be broken down into physical practices, breathing practices and meditation.  It is possible to practice these 3 components as separate entities or together depending on your specific needs and desires.  Yoga contains a diverse series of physical postures, which range from gentle stretches to more intense postures that when placed in a flow series called a vinyasa can provide an incredible workout and contribute greatly to physical fitness. Physical exercise is crucial for emotional well being. Research studies have shown that clients with mild to moderate depression or anxiety will do equally well or better with regular exercise than with antidepressant treatment. When breath awareness is combined with movement, then physical exercise begins to transform into a form of meditation. This is sometimes referred to as meditation in motion.  Done properly yoga can deliver physical exercise with the benefits of meditation.  There is now a significant body of scientific literature, which has shown that meditation practices can be very helpful in managing stress, the treatment of depression and anxiety. Two validated mindfulness based protocols, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy developed in Toronto and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction have incorporated yoga into the treatment protocol.

There are many different forms of yoga with varying approaches. One approach or form of yoga is not better than other, but perhaps certain styles of yoga are better suited for certain needs or personalities. For example, Ahstanga Yoga is a more physically vigorous form of yoga, whereas Hatha Yoga is a gentler form of yoga with a greater emphasis on incorporating the breath and holding yoga poses for longer periods.

Yoga requires the ability to breath. If you can breathe you can do yoga. A commonly seen image of yoga is a young, slim, healthy person performing a yoga pose that 90% of the population in Toronto could not perform.

At the age of 49, I obtained my Kripalu Yoga teacher training certification, and although I am very physically fit there are many postures I cannot do. Our natural physical flexibility varies greatly. If you had 3 hours a day to practice, perhaps some postures would be achievable and even then some would not.  So don’t be intimidated by some of the images you might see of others doing, challenging yoga poses. Find a yoga teacher in Toronto  that can help you develop a yoga practice that suits your body, abilities and limitations.  Yoga is about respect and love of self with whatever you can do. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Your yoga practice can begin with conscious awareness of a single breath. Twenty to thirty minutes of practice 4 to 5 days a week is challenging goal for many North Americans.  If you can start with even 10 minutes a day, or a yoga class once per week you will reap a wealth of benefits.

Please see the following article for a description of the different types of yoga:

Dr. Mark Weiss MD

Yoga Toronto

YogaToronto.Net