I began practicing yoga about 18 years ago, about the time that my joints informed me that running was no longer conducive to their continued smooth functioning. The benefits I have since derived from yoga (and meditation) have been dramatic, and have steered my life in a very positive direction.
These benefits include improved physical flexibility, heightened concentration and a much deeper level of calmness in virtually all circumstances. A good starting point in evaluating whether yoga can perform similarly for you is first to ask the questions, what is yoga and how does it work?
Yoga is a very ancient art and on a very basic level yoga can be defined as “the neutralization of the waves of feeling.” What this means on a practical level is that yoga is a tool that enables one to calm emotions, allowing him or her to focus the mind more clearly on the task at hand.
Yoga does this in the following manner: Our brains have literally tens of thousands of churning thoughts running through them each day, many of which disrupt our consciousness in the same manner that tossing a stone into a still pond creates a significant rippling effect in the water. Yoga can act to discipline our minds to reduce the impact these stray thoughts have on our daily tasks.
The chatter caused in our minds by these thoughts inhibits our growth as human beings. This potential growth is greatly limited by our inability to focus our energies on some of life’s important purposes: to realize joy and feel good about ourselves and how we are living our lives.
For example, several years ago I volunteered for a time as an aide at a local hospice. My duties primarily were to assist the nurses, but at times I also would seek to comfort the patients in any way that presented itself. I vividly remember one patient in his mid-80s who, in our conversations, remained obsessed about a traumatic incident that had occurred to him when he was 15 years old. The incident had negatively defined him in his own mind to the point that he was never able to become the person he should have been.
In some ways, all of us are like this hospice patient; we self-define and limit ourselves to the extent we negate our real potential. Consider the following parable: One day an eagle chick falls out of his nest and is adopted and raised by prairie dogs — over time, this eaglet comes to believe himself to be a prairie dog. Periodically, this “eaglet” would look to the sky and see eagles soaring high above, and he would wish that he too could soar like an eagle.
How many of us are similar to that eaglet? We see others soaring in whatever field of endeavor they choose and wish we could be more like them. Little do we realize that — for the most part — our only real limitations are those that we place on ourselves.
In what specific manner does yoga move us toward an improved self? The practice of yoga works on three levels: physical, mental and spiritual. All of these are intertwined to some extent; however, the spiritual aspect is developed primarily from deep meditation, which is only secondary to our topic in this article, but paradoxically is the primary purpose of traditional yoga practice.
The physical form of yoga, called “Hatha Yoga,” comes in many variations and consists of a wide variety of physical movements called “poses.” Ideally, these poses should be performed in a calm and quiet environment. The type of “yoga” that is practiced in health clubs, typically in noisy surroundings, is not the type of yoga to which I am referring. While that form of yoga does provide its practitioner the physical benefits of increased flexibility, improved respiratory function and enhanced energy flow, it will be less likely to provide inner quiet and calmness, which is a core function of yoga on which our success depends.
The cornerstone of any good yoga class begins with a discussion of proper breathing. It seems like a silly thing to say, but the majority of people do not breathe properly and simply correcting this malady would provide very significant holistic health benefits.
The proper way to breathe is “diaphragmatically.” This technique creates a much longer and deeper breath than merely expanding the chest and by itself can reduce stress and calm the mind.
After a focus on proper breathing, a good yoga class will do some “warm-ups” to minimize the risk of physical injury, will then move into a series of “poses” and generally finish with something called “deep relaxation,” which is essentially a few minutes of silence.
Finally, let’s return our focus to the theme of this article. If, through yoga, we can achieve a measure of increased flexibility, heightened concentration and an increased energy flow, is this the success toward which we aspire? To the extent that these qualities help us in our work and in our personal lives, then, yes, this is a form of very real success.
However, the success toward which we should ultimately aspire — and which can be achieved through a dedicated yoga practice — is that which measures not only the things that we outwardly accomplish, but also includes less tangible things. Real success should be measured by increasing our understanding of the complexities of life, our empathy for and desire to assist our fellow human beings, and our closeness to God (or to whatever our highest aspiration may be). Just as it is the birthright of an eagle to soar in the sky, the form of success described here is our birthright; don’t accept anything less.
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Jon Clark is a Seattle sole practitioner who has been teaching yoga for the past nine years. He currently teaches at the Ananda Yoga and Meditation Center on Roosevelt Way. He can be reached at JonClarkA@aol.com.
