What is Yoga?
Answering the question “what is yoga” is like peeling an onion. Yoga is a vegetable with many layers.
Starting with the outer layer: Yoga is a system of physical fitness that promotes strength, flexibility and balance. Yoga consists of series of poses called “asanas.” All the different asanas together work all the parts of the body in every which way you can imagine.
Some encourage forward motion, some encourage backward motion, some rotate the spine, some make you go upside down. Some strengthen. Some stretch. Some stretch one part while another part is being strengthened.
The different categories of yoga poses include standing poses, sitting poses, forward bends, backward bends, balances, inversions and twists. Yoga is like a universal gym, without the machines.
What makes this collection of physical activity unique as compared to other fitness systems is that if they are performed well, they work all parts of the body, inner and outer, in a complete way without injury or strain.
For example, a typical body-builder physique shows extreme muscle development. But watching a body-builder walk down the street, even a layman can identify “muscle-bound.” Muscle development has come with a cost: extreme stiffness. The body-builder works for strength and ignores its complement, flexibility.
The opposite might be seen in a person who has a lot of flexibility but very little strength, maybe standing with stooped shoulders and a rounded back (not enough “backbone”). This kind of body type, lacking support, may bend in the wrong places, placing stress on the back and other joints, causing injury.
The yogi – that is, a male who practices yoga; a gal would be a “yogini” – strives to balance strength and flexibility.
Some yoga poses work on balance in a conventional way: you stand on one leg, or you balance on your hands. But the idea of “balance” in terms of yoga has a multiple implicatons: the balancing of strength and flexibility, the balance of actions between the different parts of the body, the balance of action and release.
Imagine you are standing erect, feet parallel, legs and arms straight. Your legs are firm, and the action in the front of the leg is balanced by action in the back of the leg. Each side of the leg is working equally to provide balance from side to side. With the legs so balanced, the body can extend upward from a firm foundation.
The strength that yoga provides is a steady, even strength. The flexibility is always well-supported. The balance is both a unifying principle and a challenge to go out on a ledge and try things that are new and different.
Moving inward — the spine: It is commonly heard that yoga is thousands of years old. That may not be true in the way people usually think. Yoga is said to mean “union,” a union of the self with a small “s” with the Self with a capital “S.” Ancient texts about yoga gave instructions on practices to achieve the stillness and concentration to achieve that. To the extent that physical “exercise” was part of the process, the goal was to make the hips open enough to sit cross-legged, and the back strong enough to sit with the spine straight for hours and hours of meditation.
The classical yoga tradition encompasses eight stages of “limbs” of spiritual exercises, meditation and ritual, of which the physical poses that are known as “yoga” in the U.S. today is merely one.
There are some who say that the modern tradition of yoga, with its focus on the physical discipline, began in the 1930’s at a place in India called the Mysore Palace, where older tradition of yoga met up with the English gymnastics in the person of yoga master Krishnamacharya and his B.K.S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois. And so it can be argued.
But, getting back to the straight spine.
Some modern medical studies have concluded that one of the greatest predictors of healthy or “successful” aging is spinal health. A strong, straight spine is a really, really good thing to have when you reach old age and gravity has done its nasty business.
So, while yoga asanas improve the strength and mobility of all parts of the body, the spine has special importance.
Whatever benefits the yoga poses provide –– and standing poses, forward bends, backward bends, balances and twists each promote different sets of benefits — they are all in the service of lengthening the spine. We never “don’t lengthen the spine.“ The spine is like the queen bee, being fed by all the drones.
Yoga promotes fitness for today that can still serve as the body ages, and especially spinal fitness. If someone asked me “why do you do yoga, in one sentence,” I’d say “because if I live to be as old as my grandmothers did, I want to be able to tie my shoelaces.”
An aside: what about the liver? Here’s something to think about: the actions in yoga “work out” not just the muscles, joints and spine, but on a deeper physical level “work out” the organs and circulatory systems of the body. Compressing and stretching affects the tissues of the organs. Blood flow and lymph fluid flow are affected, which in turn have effects on how the overall systems work.
Another layer: the mind-body connection. The term “mind-body connection” is much bandied about in the world of alternative medicine and by people who wear Birkenstocks.
Some people think it’s a case of the mind being able to think something, and the thought makes the body do something. Like practicing relaxation to reverse the effects of heart disease. Or imagining cancer cells being destroyed by the power of positive thinking. Is that possible? Don’t ask me.
The mind-body connection for me is a very literal placing of thoughts into the body, and keeping them there. It is a training of the mind to focus on the body and be present there.
Lots of people are very unconnected with their bodies, almost as if they want to negate the body’s very existence — think about a person with anorexia, or a person who leads a sedentary lifestyle, experiencing only what can be experienced on TV.
But the body is the vehicle by which our mind – our consciousness – moves through the world, and it deserves a little more attention and respect.
If you tell a beginning yoga student “Move your sacrum forward,” at first the person would be confused and not know which way is forward in relation to the sacrum. They probably don’t even know where the sacrum is.
With practice, the person becomes more aware, knows what the sacrum is and learns how it can move, and then learns to move it at will, and ultimately certain actions become so integrated that conscious thought is not necessarily required for an intended action to take place.
It’s about practicing and fine-tuning entire body to use it to its fullest potential.
In the same way, a pianist repeats scales ad nauseam to improve finger strength and flexibility, so that eventually certain skills become automatic and complex pieces can be played without effort.
I think of it as developing neural pathways from the brain to the different body parts, and from different body parts to each other. Yoga increases the number of these neural pathways in the body so that a person has increased knowledge of and control of all types of body mechanics.
Another way of looking at it is that the nervous system has an intelligence that goes beyond the brain, into the spine and all the nerves of the body. Yoga develops the intelligence of the entire nervous system, in the brain AND the body.
But yoga does not have an impact on body mechanics and systems only.
Still deeper: cultivating concentration
A by-product of the mind-body connection is the development concentration and being “in the moment.”
As a beginning yoga student, I went to class and did my poses, while at the same time reviewing in my mind the events of the day, planning dinner, worrying about finances… you name it. It took years of practicing keeping my mind concentrating on the actions I was doing at the moment I was actually doing them, to actually be able to say “I am present here on this yoga mat.”
Some people have this skill naturally. For some it takes work. Yoga is a way to do the work.
Going deeper still: subtle energies: Prana (or chi if you’re Chinese, or ki if you’re Japanese) is said to be a subtle form of energy that exists in the body. It might be considered a deeper, or more refined, “body” that exists in all of us, along with the physical body and mental processes we’re more familiar with.
Since is not measurable in Western science, it doesn’t really exist to most westerners.
What is this energy thing? Is it real? I don’t know. So I can’t say very much about it.
All I know is that doing a lot of yoga, and having developed a degree of mind-body awareness, can make a person more sensitive to more subtle feelings and sensations.
Backing up a bit: looking out from the onion, to the garden: Yoga is big business these days. If a person looks for a yoga class without doing research before hand, she could end up in any number of painful and tortuous circles of hell. It’s important that a body find the type of yoga that suits its body type. And mind type.
I admit at the outset that I have a bias. I study yoga in the style of Mr. B.K.S. Iyengar of Puna, India, and I’d recommended Iyengar yoga to almost everyone. Not everyone might like the style, but I’d recommend it to them anyway as their introduction to yoga.
Yoga classes are now readily available at YMCAs and gyms on a “drop-in” basis, no matter what style of yoga a person tries, he should commit to a series of classes. Adult schools are a good way to start, accessible and generally less expensive than dedicated yoga studios.
The yoga spectrum in the US today runs from very non-strenuous “stretch-and-breathe” styles all the way to vigorous and demanding “power” styles. Here are some examples:
Hatha yoga: The most general term; it’s actually the term for the physical limb of the classical Eight Limbs of Yoga. Today, in the U.S., Hatha yoga usually describes a slow-paced and gentle style. It’s a good introductio to the poses, but the quality of instruction depends very much on the teacher.
Integral yoga and Sivananda yoga fall into the Hatha of the spectrum; Sivananda includes more of the spiritual.
Kripalu: Also on the gentler end of the spectrum, Kripalu practitioners do a lot of sighing and moaning as they are encouraged to release negativity and tension. It has much to do with self-expression and self-growth and the human potential movement.
Kundalini: Quick actions with much focus on the breath and the idea of subtle energies. Often includes chanting. I have no personal experience with the style.
Vinyasa: another general term, for the style that is based on breathe-synchronized, vigorous jumping around. Not advised for an older first-timer who’s not physically fit.
Ashtanga: A type of vinyasa yoga that includes a set series of poses that are always performed in the same way. Very little actual “instruction” goes on, and shoulder and other injuries are not uncommon both from the repetition of joint-grinding poses and from physical adjustments given by instructors.
Again, not for the weak or infirm. And I mean that.
Power Yoga: in the Vinyasa/Ashtanga vein, but with more variation of poses. There are quite a few sub-groups in this style.
Jivamukti: Ditto, but with more emphasis on the spiritual. I have no personal experience with the style except that one of the Jivamukti founders appear in ad photos much-tattooed and doing yoga in stiletto heals. Draw your own conclusions.
Bikram: Don’t get me started. A vigorous form of yoga, that is practiced in a very hot room. The same sequence 26 poses is done in every class. The founder, Bikram Choudhury, has a very proprietary and litiginous style.
If you like being hot, and if you like doing the same poses in the same order again and again, be my guest.
Anusara: Founded by Iyengar defector John Friend, Anusara emphasizes alignment and a philosophy of the goodness of all beings. Known as “heart centered” and “a kinder, gentler form of Iyengar.” It’s a youthful tradition, so that what I see in the current system as an unfortunate balance of style over substance may diminish in time as teachers become more experienced and well-trained.
Iyengar: Having earlier admitted my bias, I’ll now say that I believe that anyone who wants to “learn” yoga (as opposed to “try it out”) should start with a year of Iyengar to learn how to do it right, and then if it’s not their cup of tea, explore other traditions.
The stereotype of the Iyengar system is “it’s the one that uses a lot of props.” It’s also known as the one that is nitpicky about alignment, and the one that has more to do with the physical than the spiritual. Oh – and the teachers hit your sometimes.
In response to these stereotypes, I say, “yes, but…”
A more nuanced, yet still simple, description might be “Iyengar is a type of yoga that provides a set of tools for a student increase their mental and physical fitness.
The tools include the detailed instructions that lead the student towards improving their body awareness and skills methodically, to work towards precise alignment. Good alignment allows the body to open safely in places that it’s bound or tight.
The props are also tools, to help the student learn the alignment and opening even if their body isn’t ready for a full pose. Iyengar teachers are as a group the best-trained in the U.S. today, and although manual adjustment is common, hitting isn’t.
And as for the focus on alignment -- the alignment isn’t even an end in itself. It’s also a tool, a tool to help the mind and body gain the discipline and concentration to open a little space inside to give Spirit a place to enter.
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