Yoga provides an escape from this circular thinking. The benefits of yoga practice, to me, are threefold:
face are the cause of stress. However, a deep and honest look will reveal that it’s indeed our thought patterns that evoke the stress and anxiety, not the conditions themselves. Many of us defend our stress habits by rightfully pointing out that our conditions cause suffering, not peace. Or that inattention to stress is also inattention to responsibility.
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First, and perhaps most universally recognized, are the physical benefits:
There is mounting literature and research regarding the physical benefits of asana and meditation. Based on a UCLA study, researcher and Iyengar teacher Marla Apt instructs that forward bends create a parasympathetic nervous system response that counters the tense and outward-seeking sense-activity that’s evoked in a stressed-out person. What’s been called “the Relaxation Response” is induced by an asana practice. Science has classified what practitioners have experienced for generations: there is a physical change experienced by the body during yoga practice. This is attributed to the release of certain neurotransmitters that actually reduce the bodily state of stress.
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So, secondarily, when the chemical and physical state of the body is eased, the mind can calm:
Many people say that they can’t calm their mind, that the voices there won’t settle even when (or particularly when) they meditate. This isn’t unusual, and in fact, it’s largely the basis of why asana and pranayama are part of yoga practice. While many of us come to yoga to tend to what we see as “bodily” problems, the bodily practice of asana is available to us to quiet the body so the mind can quiet. Underneath the blanket of the physical release and modulation provided by asana, our mind can find the space to expand into a deeper level of witness to what our habits are creating. Our habits are fueling those voices! A tentative grasp at this concept provides hope that our stress and anxiety can be dissolved, that the way-out (so to speak) isn’t by controlling each and every circumstance, but by guiding inner processes.
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This creates an environment where a yogic lifestyle can thrive, number three in the list:
While a balanced body and calm mind are therapeutic results of the practice of asana and pranayama, many of us see the peace of the yogi and understand that it’s what we want in our life, but how? How can we be part of that peace? We can crack this mystery by adopting the lessons taught in the other limbs of yoga, such as the social code to not harm any beings (ahimsa)… this, friends, includes not harming ourselves. Not requiring the gauntlet of stress before we allow ourselves to feel love and joy. Many practitioners really come to know themselves, and see their patterns, when they recognize the ability to self-study (Svadhyaya) seeing the patterns at their roots, clearly and without bias. I’ve found that the practice of non-grasping (Aparigraha) is very meaningful, ensuring that I don’t collect plans and expectations too soon, that I let circumstances unfold as they will. These are only three partial aspects of a yogic lifestyle. By simply turning on the yoga light, we find that the routes to peace are endless, and the perspective of having ancient wisdom and practical applications of the wisdom in our tool chest is a very beautiful and peaceful thing.
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