Unpacking Yoga Myths - Part 1
International Yoga Day is round the corner. With the whole world embracing Yoga, it’s natural that different people have various perspectives about Yoga.
In this post, I’d like to unpack the myths people hold about Yoga across the globe.
The other day I came across an article on the internet written by a university student in the US.
She said something that surprised me.
She said “Yoga is a fancy name for stretching.”
I was speechless.
Let’s unpack this, let’s look at the most common myths
Health means Physical Fitness
A gentle means to this Physical Fitness is Yoga
Yoga means Asana
Asana means Exercise
Exercise means sweating it out.
Let’s put this all together. Many people approach Yoga for physical fitness by sweating it out through Asana. This is very common. Haven’t you heard people rave about how they do 108 surya namaskars every day?
Let me ask you this question.
If you have 1000 bucks to spend on fitness through these two options a) A Yoga Class b) Power packed gym, what would you spend on?
For most of us, our default choice is option b. Because Gym brings together all kinds of workouts nowadays ranging from kick-boxing to Yoga. And, most of the Yoga classes in a gym (or even outside of the gym for that matter) focus a lot on Asana. In a 1 hour yoga group class, 99% of the time is spent on working out through Asana and the remaining 1% towards the end is left for Pranayama.
Why is this? Why is option b the default choice? Because we feel good at the end of a workout. Honestly put, we crave for that post-workout high. We crave for those Endorphins!
Studies have proven that Endorphin release is linked to continuous exercise. In fact, I have come across phrases such as “be an endorphin junkie” to achieve that fervour for well-being.
So, is a good dose of endorphins enough for Health?
If Health means Physical Fitness, why do we come across many people who die of a sudden heart attack despite having a lifetime habit of fitness?
What is health?
According to WHO
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
According to Ayurveda - the Indian wisdom for healthy living - the definition of health is incomplete without cheerful and content senses, mind and self.
In my experience, this balance of physical, mental and social well-being cannot be achieved, if we aren’t willing to dig deeper into our state of mind, unless we are open to doing inner work.
Yoga provides us a framework to achieve this!
Next time you lay down the mat to do your Asana practice, ask yourself if it is only for that post-workout endorphins ‘high’ or for something more?
Stay tuned for more myths in the upcoming posts.