OK, all of that being said, let's go back to the beginning for a minute, shall we? (Well, not all the way back: After all, yoga originated in 15th century India, for God's sake.)
The word yoga is Sanskrit and literally means "yoke." It comes from the root word yuj, meaning "to join," "to unite," or "to attach." In Sanskrit, the term hatha yoga (which is the style of yoga that I teach) literally means "the physical postures of yoga," with ha meaning "sun" and tha meaning "moon." Yoga comes in many forms and is so much more than just hatha, but "going there" would require me writing a book versus a blog. In today's world, yoga is usually seen as a form of physical exercise. But I want my students to stretch not only their bodies, but their inner souls as well--and to come to yoga for reasons that have to do with mental health as well as physical health. Yoga has been miraculous in that way--for me and many others. Therefore, I term my style of teaching a sort of "hatha hybrid." (I'll go into that in a later post, in terms of the various yoga traditions in which I was trained.)
In starting this blog, one of the first things I did was to Google "evidence for yoga as stress relief." Wow. What a goldmine THAT simple search was. I had to bookmark my search criteria so that I could revisit it all and savor each juicy morsel of proof.
The evidence is out there, and it documents (for you doubters) the many benefits of yoga as not only a form of "stretching" and "exercise" but also its many delicious virtues for patients with chronic conditions and diseases. In future blog posts, I'll gather that evidence and post it here. Considering that, in my "other life" (i.e., my work as an editor at ASHA), I am the production editor of a scholarly journal that is very much evidence-based, my practical mind can appreciate the value of having such evidence at one's fingertips. You know: To dispel those doubters of all things yoga and relaxation!
Anyway, now I'm just plain rambling.
Seeing evidence for yoga's benefits reinforces, for me, why I do what I do--which is, quite simply, to pass along my love and passion for a practice that has helped to heal me and change me, quite literally from the inside out. I came to yoga for stress relief and inner peace. One year later, after having practiced it weekly, I found that I had grown in height by half an inch. (Man, when we yoga teachers say "Lengthen the spine," we really mean it, huh?!)
And, in closing, here's an interesting tidbit:
The 2005 "Yoga in America" survey, conducted by Yoga Journal, revealed the number of practitioners in the United States to be16.5 million with the 18- to 24-year age group. This was a 46% increase in one year! Holy cow!
I'll leave you with this: Are you among us16.5 million yoga practitioners?
And if not, isn't it about time you tried it? Good for the soul, achievement of strong bodies and physical/mental balance, brings inner peace, and the list goes on: So, what's not to love?
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