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MOVE THE BODY. CALM THE MIND. RECONNECT WITH YOUR SPIRIT. THE HEALING POWER OF YOGA
By Tina Romenesko R.Y.T. Owner of TRILLIUM YOGA in downtown
It’s nearly impossible these days to open a magazine, from Good Housekeeping to Runners World or GQ, without reading an article about the benefits of yoga. Yoga seems to be the new buzz word. The cure-all for everything from depression to tight hamstrings. But how does yoga heal? Why? What makes yoga different from other work-outs like pilates, dance, running and kick boxing? The word yoga means union. The union of body, mind, and spirit. A full yoga practice seamlessly combines these 3 elements through movement, breath and meditation, bringing all 3 entities into a state of balance that supports physical, emotional and spiritual wellness. In order to understand the interplay of body, mind, and spirit, let’s look at each entity individually, investigating how they mobilize the individual’s potential for transformation and wholeness.
BODY.
The physical practice. No other exercise works the entire body like yoga. Forward bends, back bends, twists, balancing, standing postures, inverted postures. A full practice includes all of these physical elements, strengthening and stretching each major muscle group and bringing fluidity and movement to the joints of the body. Yoga also benefits the internal organs, physically squeezing out toxins and opening up the energy around the organs. Pranayama (breath control) increases lung capacity, teaching the student how to take a full breath, bringing more oxygen into the blood stream and more energy and health into the physical body. The awareness cultivated in a yoga class, works the body from the inside out. Not just using the outer body to hold the poses, but opening up new places inside the body with awareness and movement, encouraging you to break patterns of holding and tension. Yoga presents a physical repertoire that will keep you healthy and mobile for life.
Breath and meditation
combine on the yoga mat, by encouraging the mind to reside in the fullness
of now, with complete acceptance of body, mind, and spirit.
How does this intangible aspect of yoga work?
It is the nature of the
mind to be scattered. To flit
back and forth between the past and the future.
Ruminating. Problem
solving. Obsessing.
Fantasizing.
Remembering. Yoga offers two
anchors for the mind in the present moment.
The body and the breath.
When you are present in a posture, noticing the details of the
shoulder blades, the location of the tongue or the connection of your feet
to the earth, you are grounded in the present moment in your body.
When you are present in a posture, noticing the movement of the
breath, you are grounded in the present moment, breathing in and breathing
out. This practice of
returning again and again to the present moment in body and breath, trains
and stabilizes the mind, allowing you to step away from your mind chatter,
your grocery list, the injustices of the past, or plans for the future.
When you can stand in the middle of a situation and know that it
“is”, without reacting, without labeling, you are sitting in your
wholeness. Not denying the
stress or agitation in your life, in your body, but accepting it without
identifying with it.
Practicing the yoga of attention.
The concept of presence
is simple, but anyone who has sat on a meditation cushion or rolled out
their yoga mat in the living room with the intention of relieving stress,
and “being here now”, understands that it is a very challenging practice.
One that requires patience, commitment and complete acceptance in
order to jump out of the craziness of the world and jump into the
stillness that lies beneath the surface, if only you can be quiet enough
to listen.
SPIRIT. The unifying
consciousness. For many students, the
spiritual benefits of yoga are the biggest surprise of all.
Yoga isn’t a religion.
Yoga doesn’t have a set of rules you have to follow or a set dogma.
It’s a philosophy. It’s
a framework. Practitioners
from any spiritual tradition can do yoga.
You just show up on the mat, with an open heart and an open mind,
and it happens. Once the physical body
has been addressed through the asanas or postures, and the mind has been
calmed by the breath and meditation, our spirit naturally connects with
the universal consciousness.
And whether we interpret that universal consciousness as Jesus, or Buddha
or Mohammed or bliss or internal connection with all that is, it happens.
And it feels great. Our spiritual beliefs are
as unique and diverse as the human race.
Yoga removes all of the external barriers between us and allows us
to connect with each other and the universe on a heart level.
It allows us to forgive ourselves and others, inspiring us to be
the best that we can be.
BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT
The full practice. Because yoga integrates physical movement with mental control and breath, it integrates body and mind, the nervous system and the respiratory system. The brain and the heart. It helps the body find a sense of balance, or homeostasis, encouraging the student to accept the condition of their body, the condition of their life, instead of resenting it, moving from the stress response to the relaxation response, one breath at a time. The Sufi mystic Rumi, speaks to this balance in the following poem. Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If you were always a fist or always stretched open You would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding The two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings. Balance.
Coordination. Presence.
The essence of yoga lies in the awareness of contraction and
expansion. Move the body.
Calm the mind.
Reconnect with your spirit and begin the journey to wholeness.
The healing path of yoga.
Namaste |