Yoga, What It Is And What It Is Not.

Yoga has been taught and practiced in many countries since ancient times. It is known by different names and exists in various forms but in essence all are based on the same philosophy. Although yoga has existed in some form in almost all ancient cultures and tribes, its introduction and culture in the United states of America and some countries of Europe is a more recent event. Since yoga was first introduced in these regions many new forms of yoga have emerged, especially from the USA. With the emergence of these new forms the way yoga is perceived and taught has
undergone a significant changed. There is in many ways stark contrast and contradiction in the theory of modern yoga from the ancient theory of yoga.
Many westerners and also easterners nowadays see yoga as an exercise and tend to evaluate their progress in terms of parameters like calories burned, heart rate, muscles gained and so on. In many schools
in USA yoga is taught as a series of postures, static of moving, intended to stretch the body, sweat it, burn the fat and strengthen its muscles. The practitioners think that the collection of postures taught itself is yoga and there lies their biggest error. Yoga is neither an exercise nor the postures taught in a yoga class. Yoga is taught using those postures but then it can also be taught by using any other posture or movement or pretty much any other activity whether physical or mental. A person may do much stretching and inversions and still may not do any yoga, and another person may read a book or solve a mathematical problem and may do yoga. Now the question is, if certain postures and stretches taught in a yoga class is not yoga then, what is yoga?
Yoga is the process of overcoming one's fears. It teaches us to be in control of our mind and body and how to keep the mind composed, calm and thinking rationally. The postures are supposed to act as tools in this process and so are breathing techniques. In fact breathing techniques are more useful in the teaching of yoga than are the postures. Our state of mind is well reflected by the pattern of our breathing. When we are in a calm state our breathing is deep, steady and rhythmic but when we are agitated or afraid our breathing becomes shallow, unsteady and non rhythmic. Say, two people a mathematician and a mountain climber were placed in two different settings. In the first setting both find themselves on the top of a mountain. Here, needless to say, the mountaineer will be more at ease while the mathematician will have butterflies flying in his stomach. The mountaineer will have a relaxed and steady breathing while the other will have shallow and unsteady breathing. Now in the second setting both find themselves in a mathematics class and are asked to solve a number of problems in a given time. Now what do you think will happen? Needless to say, this time the mathematician will be more relaxed with steady rhythmic breaths while the other, well may see chopsticks! The difference between the two scenarios is, in the first the mountaineer was doing yoga ( consciously or unconsciously) and in the second it was the mathematician. Hence whenever a person is relaxed and without fear he/she is doing yoga. With training a practitioner learns to keep his mind relaxed under most circumstances if not all. In reality it is not possible to eliminate fear completely but with training one can learn regain control of one's mind and not give in to fear.
Yoga teaches on to do so by focusing on one's breathing and breathing deeply and rhythmically while maintain a strong body posture. The posture only helps in teaching yoga in a normal environment by posing some challenge to the body and mind. The physical challenge unsettles the mind by bringing it out of its comfort zone and exposing it to fear. The basic purpose of yoga has always been training of the mind. The physical changes and the health that it brings to the practitioner is actually a byproduct of the training. The health benefits occur because the practitioner is more relaxed than before and stays relaxed in otherwise stressful situations. Regular practice trains the practitioner to be conscious of his mental state and regain control of his breathing whenever he/she tends to stay. In addition to all this there is also the spiritual aspect of yoga but I will not venture to discuss about it since my understanding of the almighty and its connection to yoga is minute.
I hope my piece will be able to provide a mostly forgotten perspective on what is yoga, what to expect of it and what not to expect of it. In recent times yoga has been the focus of many debates by health and fitness experts and the medical community. Many experiments have been conducted on yoga practitioners seeking to testify claims related to yoga. Some of the results from these experiments have vindicated the claims whereas others have shown the claims to be baseless. But almost all of these experiments have regarded yoga as an exercise routine and hence tried to evaluate from that vantage point. Hence the evaluation has not been correct because it was based on erroneous understanding of yoga. This erroneous understanding is due to how yoga has been popularized and marketed in the west. Yoga has been turned into a fitness routine and sport, and exaggerated stretching has been preached a a key to fitness and well being. In new age yoga classes practitioners are told to push through pain and somehow hold a posture for a required amount of time before moving to another posture and more pain. These modern yoga teachers have created a whole new form of yoga to compete with other fitness routines likes calisthenics and weight lifting. They are either unaware of the real purpose of yoga or are not bothered about it or think it
is not important. Practitioners of yoga should know that yoga will only do for them what it is supposed to neither less nor more.