When I was 21 I suffered a slipped disc in my lower back. I
couldn't sit down during the acute phase, only lie or stand,
though standing itself was uncomfortable at the time. Once the
acute phase had passed (with rest, although acupuncture and
shiatsu are great), I had the fortune to meet some yoga teachers
and I started going to their classes. I started out with Oki
yoga, which is a Japanese form of yoga, and very good for
healing the body.
I was given a series of correcting and strengthening exercises
designed to improve my back and specific to the meridians that
were in need of attention in my particular case. Oki yoga has
postures classified on how they affect the meridians, which are
like energetic pathways within our body. And that was the one
thing that helped restore my back completely, to a state that
was actually better than it was before I injured myself. When
you are suffering an acute injury though, yoga really shouldn't
be attempted until that stage has passed.
That introduction to yoga ignited a deep love of it through
which I began to see the more subtle health benefits it brought
to my life. Yoga can help with a wide spectrum of physical
issues and injuries, but it is also an excellent alternative to
the gym for those that find the repetition and distraction of it
not to their taste. It is great for toning up your body, whilst
gaining flexibility.
Yoga has a reputation for flexibility, and deservedly so. But it
can also develop strength. Developing strength is particularly
important for women. Women tend to be more flexible than men,
but not as strong, unless they have been involved in fitness
regularly. But unlike many traditional forms of exercise, yoga
also strengthens the inner muscles and organs in our bodies. It
makes a great preparation for childbirth!
Yoga also develops discipline. This comes in making the time on
a regular basis to either go to classes, or practice yoga in
your living room, or in the morning sun in the garden. But there
is a more subtle level of discipline. It starts with bringing
your mind to focus on your breathing, and then feeling the
effects of a posture on your body. This conscious exploration is
quite a different experience of fitness than usually seen at the
gym - where loud music, televisions and other external stimuli
fight for your attention. You won't see people with headphones
on, or reading a magazine, whilst doing yoga.
This conscious exploration establishes a relationship with your
body, and its importance cannot be overstated. So often, parts
of us are frozen, or numb in some ways. This can express
physically as pain, coldness, or stiffness. Energetically, it is
as though despite trying to concentrate on an area, we just
cannot feel connected to it.
In a more subtle way, when we feel the points of resistance
within our body as we do a pose - when we breathe into that
stiffness, and sometimes pain, we develop a resilience and
mental fortitude. Yoga does, of course, help with concentration.
But that process of releasing and going beyond the point of
physical limitation is not limited to the body. It develops a
quiet confidence and knowledge about one's own capacity that is
not held back by the boundaries we may have falsely believed
about ourselves before. With a yoga practice, we can get back in
touch with what yogi's call our dharma, our purpose in life. And
we find in ourselves, by virtue of our growing strength, the
courage to follow that path.
And finally, a quote from a yoga teacher from Sydney, Australia,
Eileen Hall, printed in the Australian Yoga Life magazine:
"Yoga is not about relaxation, it's not about losing weight,
it's not about learning meditation. It's about discovering the
divine being within ourselves."
References: Yoga Journal, November 2005 Australian Yoga Life,
Nov 2005 - Mar 2006
About the author:
If you'd like to learn more about the
benefits of yoga, click here. The article
talks about the psychological, physiological, and biochemical
benefits a regular yoga practice can bring. Rebecca Prescott
runs the website
Yoga To Health.
