Why Yoga?

Yoga has helped me immensely.  It has helped me to relax, to learn to be at home in my body and in a lot of ways to grow mentally and spiritually.  That sounds like a lot, right? We'll it is. I never cease to be amazed how good I feel after a yoga session.

I got into Yoga a few years ago via the Gold's Gym class.  It was sort of a Yoga hybrid called Centergy. I was a little reluctant to try it at first because there weren't many other guys in the class.  In fact I don't think there were any. Yes, it felt a little weird at first to be doing these swaying, bending, hip moving motions with a room full of soccer moms. To be honest though it just looked relaxing to me. I was coming through a time of stress and just trying to get myself back into shape and it seemed like a good step. Turns out, it was relaxing, but it was also extremely challenging. I was learning to use muscles I didn't know I had. I'm still finding them!

I continued on with Centergy for about a year and later heard about a class in a woman's home nearby. Her name was Debbie. Jenn had already tried her class a few times and liked it a lot. It was definitely harder than Centergy, but I was ready to try something like this. Debbie is a great teacher. Patient, and kind yet willing to push us. She also explained the poses, so my understanding of what was supposed to be happening physically was starting to grow. She talked about splitting the energy of the pose between tension and relaxation. Which muscles to focus on and about learning to breathe correctly from pose to pose. Slowly I started to understand more of what I was going for and how it was affecting my body, but it took quite a while (over a year) for this understanding to start to sink in. After classes, I sometimes felt so good it was like getting a mini high. I also started to notice in certain poses things coming up emotionally, sadness or anger etc., just out of the blue. These feelings would come and go, but I started to understand that my body, mind and spirit are deeply connected. So far, Yoga was helping to be a much more relaxed person.

What is Yoga?
More than anything I think Yoga is a science of how our body relates to our mind. I read that Yoga predates Hinduism by a few hundred years. So to lump it in solely with Hinduism is probably not entirely accurate. I have come to see Yoga as a spiritual practice though. How could anything that helps a person connect with their mind, emotions and spirit in such a definitive way NOT be considered a spiritual practice. After all, what is being spiritual about? It's about feeling good and being good to others. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what scriptures, dogmas or philosophies you have ...or if you hang with really spiritual people..if you don't feel good and respect yourself and in turn treat others with that same respect, then that's all pretty worthless. (And isn't that the trouble in the world, in a nutshell? ..people not treating themselves and each other with respect.) Yoga has also helped me to deepen my connection to the Spirit, God. Many things that I can't fully understand, but I have gotten a glimpse of. 

Yoga is also a science and a technology. Over thousands of years these Yogi's figured out what is connected to what and how it can be of benefit to us.  It is like the missing owners manual for the human body and our mind-body connection. It is a very profound and useful practice.

What does Yoga do?
Yoga helps us to balance our nervous system. Our mind, breath and heart are intimately connected and syncing these up properly helps the body to function with greater ease.  Before, I started doing Yoga I was definitely NOT functioning at an efficient level. Sometimes I experienced shorter breathing or heart palpitations and I had blood pressure that was definitely too high for my age. Because I didn't feel good overall, I would get angry or frustrated easier and sometimes found just focusing on one thing harder to do.

In a typical Yoga practice (session) the Yogi (the person doing yoga) goes through a set of poses and body positions.  These are called Asanas. The key is that while the Yogi is going through these physical motions they are also paying attention to their breathing rhythm. So it might be something like.."breathe in, stand up...breath out, bend over..etc...etc.." The teacher helps with keeping up with the sequence, so you hardly have to think about it after a while.  Why does this help? As I mentioned the mind (brainwaves), the heartbeat, and the breath are all connected.  However the only one that we can consciously control is the breathing.  While going through the poses the Yogi is building up a sweat, the heart starts beating faster and they start getting a good workout.  All the while, the Yogi is paying particular attention to keep the breath slow and steady.  So in a way this is working against what we would normally do. Normally our breath would speed up right along with the heart rate during an exercise routine. As a musician I also see this as sort of resetting our tempo, the internal metronome. The brainwaves, heartbeat and the breath are all rhythms.  Yes, our body is making music! It's a rhythm machine. By breathing consciously the Yogi is keeping the instrument in tune. This is also training the body to react differently to stress.  While the Yogi is exercising they are inducing some physical stress in the form of muscle exertion and increased heartbeat.  However, at the same time they are training themselves to maintain a steady and calm pace of breathing. This also naturally calms the mind. So in some ways I see this as a "stress simulation" for other areas of life. It's like learning to be calm in stress inducing situations. Eventually, I believe that this can become hardwired into our nervous system.

Yoga also helps to unwind stresses that have gotten sort of trapped in our body. Over time people can internalize stresses (physical or emotional) in the form of muscle tension in the body. From the time we are children we are learning to react to a confusing and chaotic world. Whether a child burns their hand on the stove accidentally or is scolded by a teacher the basic response is usually to pull back, contract. Contraction IS tension. These contractions occur in our muscles and over time can become part of our muscle memory. How? As babies we are learning to deal with the world at a rapid pace. We are learning as fast as we can about the nature of cause and effect. As we learn some of these things they move on into our subconscious for later use, to be pulled up at a future time that seems relevant. These things we learn are in essence stored in our version of RAM. The trouble is that some of these traumas can also be stored at the physical level in our bodies in the form of muscle tensions or other inefficient physical functioning. Over time it is easy to forget about this and hold on to this tension unconsciously. How does this happen?  Our conscious mind just moves on, it is trying to be as efficient as possible and can't rest on one problem. As I mentioned earlier, I would sometimes notice emotions or feelings while I was in certain poses or stretches. I think that this is our body unwinding stress. As the stress unwinds it also has to be revisited by the conscious mind. At least this was my experience. It can be a bit freaky as these tensions find their way out of the body, but letting these tensions go and their corresponding mental states has led me to much deeper states of relaxation and just ease in my physical body. So Yoga is not only teaching the Yogi to deal with future stresses, but also retro engineering and releasing the stress that has become part of the nervous system.

To recap:

Yoga helps to balance the nervous system. The breath, the heart and the mind.

Yoga helps to release tensions that can become part of our "muscle memory" in the body.

Find a Teacher:
Yoga studios seem to be everywhere these days. You don't have to contort into pretzel shapes or be able to stand on your head. There are gentle yoga classes for beginners (or if you are just returning to exercise) and there are also strenuous Yoga classes that will challenge even the most conditioned atheletes. Find a teacher that is patient and willing to spend some time helping you to understand the poses and breathing. Just remember it takes a while for it all to sink in, so stick with it!!

Links:
The Scientific basis of Yoga Therapy:
http://www.yogajournal.com/for_teachers/2016

The Science of Yoga
http://williamjbroad.com/the-science-of-yoga/
(I haven't read this book yet, but it sounds interesting, especially the part about unremitting sexual bliss.  :)

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