Beyond Flexibility - The Health Benefits Of Yoga

When I was 21 I suffered a slipped disc in my lowerpractice yoga in your living room, or in the morning sun
back. I couldn't sit down during the acute phase, only liein the garden. But there is a more subtle level of
or stand, though standing itself was uncomfortable atdiscipline. It starts with bringing your mind to focus on
the time. Once the acute phase had passed (with rest,your breathing, and then feeling the effects of a
although acupuncture and shiatsu are great), I had theposture on your body. This conscious exploration is
fortune to meet some yoga teachers and I startedquite a different experience of fitness than usually
going to their classes. I started out with Oki yoga,seen at the gym - where loud music, televisions and
which is a Japanese form of yoga, and very good forother external stimuli fight for your attention. You won't
healing the body.see people with headphones on, or reading a
I was given a series of correcting and strengtheningmagazine, whilst doing yoga.
exercises designed to improve my back and specificThis conscious exploration establishes a relationship
to the meridians that were in need of attention in mywith your body, and its importance cannot be
particular case. Oki yoga has postures classified onoverstated. So often, parts of us are frozen, or numb
how they affect the meridians, which are like energeticin some ways. This can express physically as pain,
pathways within our body. And that was the one thingcoldness, or stiffness. Energetically, it is as though
that helped restore my back completely, to a statedespite trying to concentrate on an area, we just
that was actually better than it was before I injuredcannot feel connected to it.
myself. When you are suffering an acute injury though,In a more subtle way, when we feel the points of
yoga really shouldn't be attempted until that stage hasresistance within our body as we do a pose - when
passed.we breathe into that stiffness, and sometimes pain, we
That introduction to yoga ignited a deep love of itdevelop a resilience and mental fortitude. Yoga does,
through which I began to see the more subtle healthof course, help with concentration. But that process of
benefits it brought to my life. Yoga can help with areleasing and going beyond the point of physical
wide spectrum of physical issues and injuries, but it islimitation is not limited to the body. It develops a quiet
also an excellent alternative to the gym for those thatconfidence and knowledge about one's own capacity
find the repetition and distraction of it not to their taste.that is not held back by the boundaries we may have
It is great for toning up your body, whilst gainingfalsely believed about ourselves before. With a yoga
flexibility.practice, we can get back in touch with what yogi's
Yoga has a reputation for flexibility, and deservedly so.call our dharma, our purpose in life. And we find in
But it can also develop strength. Developing strength isourselves, by virtue of our growing strength, the
particularly important for women. Women tend to becourage to follow that path.
more flexible than men, but not as strong, unless theyAnd finally, a quote from a yoga teacher from Sydney,
have been involved in fitness regularly. But unlike manyAustralia, Eileen Hall, printed in the Australian Yoga Life
traditional forms of exercise, yoga also strengthens themagazine:
inner muscles and organs in our bodies. It makes a"Yoga is not about relaxation, it's not about losing
great preparation for childbirth!weight, it's not about learning meditation. It's about
Yoga also develops discipline. This comes in makingdiscovering the divine being within ourselves.
the time on a regular basis to either go to classes, or