Yoga has had a presence in my life for over 10 years.  But has it really? We often hear about personal discoveries or ‘a-ha’ moments on the yoga mat, but it wasn’t until about a year ago that I had my first real ‘a-ha!’ situation during a class. In hindsight it was under funny circumstances though, as I was actually quite hung over when this moment of realisation popped up.  I don’t know about you, but Sunday morning classes with Kelly last year had become my 1 class a week ritual. A page turner setting me up for the coming week, even waking up with a hangover wasn’t going to stand in the way of me attending.

So there I found myself soldiering through it, a shipwreck trying not to breathe over the people next to me. My headache was going to new heights with every sun salute and I felt like it couldn’t get much worse when we began our set up to do Half Moon pose. Although I was familiar with it, this posture was always a bit dicey for me at the best of times. Often checking out and foreseeing the inventible fight I would have over my teetering body; rigidly trying to maintain control (and my breath) before giving up and letting the posture topple away from my grasp.
I would come out of the pose the same way I went into it.

My predetermined expectations of this posture and my predictable mind/body reaction came up again but this time it was different.  As I was preparing to manhandle my body to overcome my lack of balance I heard the instructor’s voice asking us to RELAX…. and ENJOY our breath on arriving in the posture.  Maybe in my compromised hung-over state this presented a far more agreeable approach. What?  Just enjoy my breath and relax? Yes please. I listened.

Translating this information I let myself breathe, cycling it over a few times before letting my body follow and the posture kick into place. Miraculously I found I could relax by continuing to focus on my breath; I was balanced but doing so without any sort of fixed rigidity. I actually found with each breath I opened more, briefly glimpsing that harmonious feeling of radiating energy out in all directions. It was a joyful moment for me and my mind actually went ‘A-HA!’ – I Got It!

Yoga has had a presence in my life for over 10 years.  But has it really? Instead I should be asking have I been present in my yoga practise? The on-going temptation to force my body along when doing this posture (and many other balancing postures I might add), means that this ‘a-ha’ moment is accompanied by a disclaimer: These moments will continue to happen for me but ONLY when I stop and listen. CHECK IN first not out. Not only to my body but also to the guidance and gentle reminders offered in the collective class environment.

In doing so we can better notice the internal thoughts that run along ahead of us trying to set us up for failure, but let them pass rather than prevail.  Even with the most familiar yoga postures or the habit forming routines we build into our everyday lives, whereby we stop and listen first we can then take on new perspectives and discover fresh approaches to embrace situations and move forward in confidence.

~Sarah Morris

The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (Simon & Schuster, 2012)
Reviewed by Kirsten Johnstone

William J Broad had the worldwide yoga community all bent out of shape earlier this year when The New York Times – where he is a senior science writer – published his article ‘How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body’. The article detailed cases of ostensibly healthy people becoming partially paralysed, lungs collapsing, and strokes occurring during yoga classes. It also highlighted the huge increase in other yoga related injuries – sprains, torn cartilages, and muscle damage – in the western world in the past decade. One yoga teacher tells Broad “One of the biggest teachers in America had zero movement in her hip joints. The sockets had become so degenerated that she had to have hip replacements. There are other yoga teachers that have such bad backs they have to lie down to teach. I’d be so embarrassed.”

The article forms part of a chapter in the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist’s book ‘The Science Of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards’. Broad has been a devotee of yoga since the 70s, and for all the warnings about the perils of yoga in this book, he applauds the benefits of the practise: for strength building, clarity of mind, creativity, stress-busting, staving off depression, building one’s immune system, life-lengthening, and improving one’s sex-life.

Broad’s research is sound – he has interviewed teachers all around the world, read and analysed hundreds of scientific studies and assessed their merits, and investigated some of the oft-repeated claims made by famous gurus – including B.K.S. Iyengar, Bikram Choudhury (who Broad is especially scathing of) and Larry Payne, who wrote ‘Yoga For Dummies’ armed with a ‘Doctorate’ from a sham university.

The book also serves as a history of modern yoga. Broad picks up the story in the late 1800s, a time when Yogi were despised by most Indians. They were characterised as sex-obsessed, feral, wandering con-artists – with the Aghori sect having the added distinctions of cannibalism and heavy alcohol consumption. It wasn’t until India’s independence movement in the 1940s that yoga was re-developed – without the sexual elements so fundamental to the ancient practise – and presented as a source of pride by Hindu nationalists.

It is those roots as a Tantric sex cult that Broad attributes Yoga’s many ‘sex scandals’ to – he further aggravated the yoga community in March with another article – ‘Yoga and Sex Scandals: No Surprise Here’.  This article was published after Anusara Yoga founder John Friend was accused of sexual misconduct with students. And while ‘The Science Of Yoga’ provides evidence of testosterone levels rising during yoga, and of sexual bliss through simple breathing techniques – such as the Kundalini Yogi use – Broad seems to excuse the behaviour of the various Gurus’.

Broad has succeeded, in writing a much needed analysis of a practice which is plagued by misinformation and blind faith. It is a good reminder that yoga is not a competitive sport, and that – to avoid injury and get the most from it – ego should be left at the door when practising yoga.  ‘The Science Of Yoga’ is a well written, entertaining, balanced and informative read, essential for anyone who has ever wondered why you feel so good after a yoga class.

Here’s an interview with William J Broad which aired recently on Radio NZ National’s This Way Up:  http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/twu/twu-20120421-1215-the_science_of_yoga-048.mp3

Yoga!?  Well, what is there to say? I’m struggling to get beyond the fact that it’s a good idea and we should probably be doing some more of it. 

It kind of doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a power yoga practice (hardasana) or a yin yoga practice (lazyasana) or a home practice (myasana) or even not a very good practice at all (badasana) … all roads can lead to the same destination if you walk down them for long enough and they don’t necessarily involve some highly contorted peak poses (crazyasana.) 

The important thing is to turn up on the mat and be present. If you’re not fully there, then it’s not quite yoga (dumbasana.) Paradoxically, asana is all about what’s happening on the inside. So, breathe slowly, take it to the edge, pull it back a little and then open softly to whatever comes. To me, that’s smartasana. It’s also not a bad recipe for life.

~Tom Hussey

because I was seeking 

something, but I was told

we are not moved to silence
in our seeking 

we are always moving away from it

we ARE silence 
we are stillness

this is how we experience
  noise and movement

It is in the contrast

~Aly Titchener

It was dark.

It was cold.

It was Monday morning.

The heat pump had not quite taken all the chill out of the lounge.

And I had a headache.

I contemplated taking a couple of panadol and skipping my morning practice in favour of a longer hot shower.  I talked myself into rolling out the mat, playing my favourite meditation track on the Ipod and wearing my cosiest jumper.  Nothing else felt particularly bad, and I figured that if the headache interfered too much with practice, I could still head for the shower.

Warm up, sun salutations, pulsations – mmm, headache still there.  Set up for sideangle pose: ground, breathe, extend.  As I encouraged my not quite awake upper shoulder tip further around, I felt something unravel deep in my mid-back.  As I exhaled and unwound, the headache just – dissolved.

In the past, I’ve been able to work open a stiff, twingy area through breathing and careful working in certain poses.  But this was surprising because I didn’t choose this pose for that purpose, and wasn’t aware of any particular stiffness in my back or neck.  It just  – opened.

Maybe this was unblocking of an energy channel.  Maybe it was circulatory.  Twists, even small ones, are noted for their ability to help flush out toxins in our organs.  To be honest, I don’t really care – it worked!

~Susanne Ames