Yoga

Yoga reaches parts that other forms of exercise cannot event contemplate. It exercises very muscles in the body; it tones and invigorates every organ; it flushes and cleanses every blood vessel; it pacifies, tones and harmonises the nerves, body tissues, it enhances skin quality, it clears and relaxes the mind, it focuses attention, it generates energy.

In yoga we use the body to harness the mind. By recalibrating the body we recalibrate the mind. By liberating the body from its restrictions we liberate the mind from its limitations. In Yoga the body is the gymnasium in which we train the development of the mind in attentiveness, concentration, and subtlety, clarify the comprehensiveness. All of these qualities are required and cultivated by the postures. All of these qualities then become characteristics of the mind – characteristics that are then available to any and all of the activities of everyday life.

You do this in yoga simply by paying attention to the way your body feels as you move it, to the rhythm of your breathing, in and out of different postures. Nothing weird, nothing esoteric, nothing complicated. Just moving, breathing and feeling. While how you move in and out of the postures is important, it is staying still that really counts. It is this that distinguishes yoga from other forms of training, giving yourself time to stop still, to listen to your body, to feel yourself as you are.

The benefits of yoga are not in proportion to the difficulty of the postures. Most of the benefits of yoga result from the more basic postures.

Yoga must be approached with integrity. This integrity is one in which the attentiveness and sensitivity of the mind are used to activate each part of the body into a harmonious whole. This is a harmony of body and mind; as one. The guiding link is the breath. As you become more comfortable in your body, and more at ease in your mind, you will feel better and better about yourself. It helps you to drop the tension, anxieties, and inhibitions that prevent you from being fully and freely yourself.

What this means is that yoga is not simply a matter of establishing the greatest possible movement in a muscle or muscle group. It is not simply a matter of lengthening muscles; it is a question of returning all the muscles of the body and their relationship to each other. This returning is not done in order to bring about flexibility. It is done in order to bring about efficiency and harmony of all physical activity. It is a question of the organic activity of the vital systems of the body; respiratory; circulatory digestive, reproductive, immunological, nervous, etc. Nevertheless, flexibility is an obvious and beneficial effect of this process.

The more you put into the practice of yoga the more you will get out of it. It can be used to develop flexibility, strength, stamina and general fitness; to promote relaxation and good posture; to correct muscular imbalances. But it can give you much more than these things, while including them also. It can give a deep and resilient peace of mind which comes from self awareness and self acceptance that reset upon the self determination and self responsibility which the method demands. No one can do your practice for you. Once you begin to feel the way that it opens you to yourself, allowing you to feel and be yourself more fully and more freely, you will greatly appreciate this fact.

As you become more comfortable in your body, and more at ease in your mind, you will feel better and better about yourself. It helps you to drop the tension, anxieties, and inhibitions that prevent you from being fully and freely yourself.

Theory

The yoga training method is designed to bring about total relaxation. It is only the presence of physical, emotional and mental tension that restricts the flowering of our innate potential. As these tensions are removed, our potential is realized accordingly. As the natural harmony and integrity of our body and mind are more able to express themselves, the more immune we become to the stress and strain of life.

The practice of yoga stabilizes our nervous system and our minds. This stability spills over into our lives allowing us to face the unexpected with a calm clarity.

The effects of yoga are very broad and very deep. They touch every aspect of one’s being; most immediately they give back the capability of the body to move freely and effortlessly. At the same time they give the mind focus while bringing vitality.

The practice alignment of the body required by the postures brings, little by little, structural reintegration of the anatomical body. Posture, the way that we hold ourselves, improves carriage, the way that we move through space, does too. Muscles of the body are more able to fulfil the way that we move through space, does too. Muscles of the body are more able to fulfil their role in supporting the moving the rest of the body once they are free from tension.

The deep stretching that yoga brings to the muscles, and the effect of improved circulation, brings oxygenated blood to tissues that my have been neglected due to poor circulation. Those parts of the body that have been or are beginning to stagnate, are brought back to life, to vitality.

Just as respiration and circulation are improved, so too is digestion
Method

Respecting the body/mind means not trying not to impose on them. Imposing on the mind brings frustration, conflict and confusion. Both kinds of imposition are acts of aggression, of violence against yourself. Practice should be an open inquiry carried out with honesty and sensitivity.

Yoga is about balance. There are five main aspects to the practice of yoga – by doing this we can make sure that our practice is balance. These five aspects are structure, movement, breathing, energy and awareness.

We need to make balance between effort and ease applying enough effort; but not too much, being relaxed but not compromising, structural integrity; introducing balance between power and fluidity; between developing and utilizing the ability to resist gravity and more freely and not fighting with our blocks; finding the parameters within which we can challenge our resistance; introducing balance between striving and enjoyment between achievement and pleasure.

Practice

Repetition is fundamental to any learning process. Progress in Yoga depends upon regular practice. Yoga is not self-mortification. It can and should be continually accompanied by a sense of release, relief, growth and expansion. This is the same way that infants learn to move and walk. Through hesitant repetition that becomes more and more confident, while a pattern of neuro/muscular action is being learned. When the pattern has been coded in the brain, the action, movement, or posture becomes stable and can be sustained without strain.

A little often is more beneficial than a lot occasionally. However, your progress will be slow and you might not even realise that it is happening.

It is better to have a rest every now and then. This allows the muscles time to assimilate the lengthening work you have been doing. Too much stretching can cause the muscles to tighten and harden up in resistance to overdoing it.

Postures

In yoga the shapes of the posture act like a lens bringing the mind into focus.