Yoga can wreck your body and make you fat -- at least according to New York Times science writer William Broad. Between Maureen Dowd's column back in October, "How Garbo Learned to Stand on Her Head," on Broad's upcoming book, "The Science of Yoga: The Myths and the Rewards," and Broad's own piece last week, "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body," Broad has taken up prime journalistic real estate to grind his axe with yoga. His conclusions about yoga, however, are premised on anecdotes about asana, not yoga, and the only thing really getting fat is the gap between the popular understanding of yoga and what yoga really is.
Yoga is a combination of both physical and spiritual exercises, the key word being "combination" with an emphasis on the spiritual. Yoga is the practice of preparing oneself to yoke, unite or experience the Divine within (i.e. the individual self with the Cosmic Self). Yoga is about attaining moksha, or liberation, from worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and rebirth. Yoga is a holistic and spiritual system of living that is essential to the understanding and practice of Hinduism. What yoga is not is asana alone.
There are eight limbs of yoga:
Analyzing yoga as only exercise and then labeling it as hazardous to one's health is a false equation because yoga doesn't equal asana. And therein lies the crux of the problem of not only Broad's theses, but the secular and physical fixation in which the West -- and sometimes the East in mimicking the West -- has cloaked this ancient spiritual tradition. As a result, we are now bombarded with Naked Yoga, Hip Hop Yoga, Hot Yoga, Antigravity Yoga, Christian Yoga ... the list is long and just as ludicrous. The truth is that none of these are yoga simply because they incorporate some form of asana and say they are. What's the saying? "You can put lipstick on a pig..."
Almost three years ago, the Hindu American Foundation launched its Take Back Yoga Project (TBY). The initial aim was simple: to bring about acknowledgement of yoga's Hindu roots by highlighting not only the delinking of yoga from its spiritual framework by the yoga industry, but also the erroneous idea that yoga is primarily a physical practice based on asana. But as more than 20 million Americans dabble in "yoga" and the $6 billion yoga industry continues to bloat, the importance and scope of TBY has evolved from one of identity to that of filling in the public knowledge gap.
Just as equating yoga with only asana is a half-truth (more like a 1/8th-truth), so too is ignoring the spiritual, metaphysical Truths upon which yoga rests. Ever been to a studio which displays an Aum (Om) on its walls or a class which begins with the chanting of it? Aum, according to the Vedas (Hinduism's most sacred texts), is the primordial sound that resonated at the creation of our Universe and continues to resonate in each of us and all of existence. Ever close a session with hands at your heart and the utterance of "Namaste -- the Divine/Light in me bows to the Divine/Light in you"? Namaste encompasses the essential teachings of Hinduism that God is both immanent and transcendent and we all are inherently Divine. How about a class focused on sun salutations or Surya namaskar? Prostration to the sun was central to ancient Hindu worship and continues to be relevant. Chakras out of sync? Chakras are first mentioned in the Vedas and detailed throughout the Upanishads.
It is also problematic to approach the path of raja yoga, of which hatha and kriya yoga are a part, as a stand-alone practice. The full benefits of yoga cannot be experienced without also treading the sister paths of jnana yoga (path of knowledge), bhakti yoga (path of devotion to God) and karma yoga (path of selfess action) or the sister tradition of Ayurveda.
TBY's quest to educate the public requires being truthful about all of the aspects of yoga, even if it means that many people might steer clear of yoga or miss out on its universal physical, mental and spiritual benefits because it is rooted in "religion." But as HAF states in the position paper that formed the basis of TBY, "Hinduism, as a non-proselytizing religion, never compels practitioners of yoga to profess allegiance to the faith or convert. Yoga is a means of spiritual attainment for any and all seekers."
Ironically, while much of the yoga industry and mainstream media perpetuate the yoga is asana formula with an occasional nod to pranayama, the leadership of a number of the world's religions, such as the Vatican, warn their flock that yoga may lead one into exploring and experiencing Hindu belief and practice. I have to say, I concur. True yoga will not wreck your body or make you fat, but it may just open your heart, increase your capacity to see and be divine, and lead you towards a more pluralistic, Hindu view of life.
For starters, Yoga is not Hindu. Yoga has nothing to do with religion, or ethnicity, or whatever river you happen to live alongside of.
Yoga is a science, a technology for reaching your peak potential.
Yoga is the birthright of human beings.
Namaste.
Its common now for people to have internalized all the maps that I have referred to above, and then to say that Yoga has nothing to do with Hinduism. Yes, it is a birthright of all human beings, but that does not mean to strip out of Yoga its historic, philosophical angle.
The 'Jyotishastra' or the Astrology of Hindus, also speaks of millions of combinations of planets to form YOGA. Of these, every person is seen if he is capable of forming a 'RAJA YOGA' which is mere kingly life in material world or a learned liberated soul in Kundalini Shakthi in the astral world.
So, Yoga is a very broad spectrum thats a 'one word encompass all' and its more to do with Hindu concepts of 'being / yoking one with divine' rather to do with the abrahamic concepts of 'original sin' or the 'nicene creed'.
Better luck at twisting hindu thoughts - all the best.
Swami Param
Classical Yoga Hindu Academy
Here is Vedic scholar Dr. Nicholas Kazanas on the subject... video lecture filmed at Madras U. last year: http://www.omilosmeleton.gr/en/multimedia_en.asp
In the lecture entitled "The collapse of Aryan Invasion Theory and the prevalence of Indigenism", you can see the evidence against the 19th century paradigm of Aryan invasion for yourself.
Also, pre-Harappan cities have been found which take the date back for indigenism back to well past 10000 years ago... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1768109.stm
Really? What does then... Reebok, Nike, Lululemon? What say you?
Any instrument, misused, can harm.
The concern for the western divorce of purusha from prakriti is certainly a problem we need to overcome. Satsang, open mindedness, the wisdom of those who have gone before, etc. help us to use the instruments well. But we too should be cautious in our own use of maya based instruments. They are, after all, thorns that we use to remove other thorns; they too will one day need to be cast aside.
hariaum
What's taught as correct breathing in Yoga classes is usually incorrect. People are taught various breathing exercises, but remain unknowing of 24/7 breath which is to be carried all day long. Then there are weird emphases on things such as core-breath, core strength etc, totally missing the point.
Here is my earlier comment on this topic:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/DogmaToxin/hindu-view-of-christian-yoga_b_778501_70690304.html