Reaching for the Unreachable

An Indian-born yoga instructor once said “Yoga was our medicine when we had no medicine”.

So, many centuries ago yogi had developed hundreds of special positions or asana(s) helpful against various conditions. Some of the asanas provide gentle massage of internal organs that otherwise are never physically treated. That is why these poses look so weird – they intend to reach the unreachable.

This position helps against colds and tonsillitis, very calming too

When I tried to stretch a leg in a “gymnastic way” - by pulsing it, my instructor gently stopped me and suggested to relax the muscles and breathe instead. Frankly, I was very skeptical about the approach and the possibility of relaxation at the moment seemed quite unrealistic.

I was still cherishing my doubts when my leg, supposedly at its limits, stretched further, and two breaths later – even a bit more.  Not only this technique appeared to be incredibly effective, it was also comfortable and safe.

I wish I knew it when I was a young athlete. There was not a single person on our college team without some sort of injury. We thought of them as mundane attributes of intense training and managed as well as we could.

Now I think that many of those injuries could’ve been avoided or better healed. 

I was also surprised to discover that intensity of yoga practice can vary significantly. It may be spa-like gentle or extremely strenuous. The beginner who had formed his idea of yoga based on Hollywood images can be really discouraged: instead of an hour of relaxation he might find himself shaking in stress.

Intense static load on the muscles in asana requires unobstructed blood circulation, therefore the room for practice should be warm and transitions from one position to another should be executed mindfully and slowly.

In fact, most of the injuries in yoga happen when someone becomes overly confidant and moves to the next asana without caution.  

A single asana never works a particular muscle like a training machine, but rather engages a group of muscles, large and small. Different positions impact muscles at different angles in every changing combination.

And judging by the fact that every new type of class, or even another instructor always made me sore next morning, many of the these muscles are rarely given a chance to rejuvenate outside  the yoga class.

This is why I like trying various classes with different instructors; they work the body in new ways.

During an especially intense position I console myself that one day I might need all the strength I am now trying to obtain.  I once heard from the yoga practitioner the following wisdom:

“We prepare ourselves for life challenges. We do not know what to expect, but prepare anyway”.

I think this is very true.

According to the recent Harvard Health Publications yoga may have positive effects on stress and can be used as a treatment for anxiety and depression:

By reducing perceived stress and anxiety, yoga appears to modulate stress response systems. This, in turn, decreases physiological arousal—for example, reducing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and easing respiration. There is also evidence that yoga practices help increase heart rate variability, an indicator of the body's ability to respond to stress more flexibly.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100237603&page=1

The same source refers to the current studies exploring yoga ability to help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD):

In 2008, researchers at the University of Utah presented preliminary results from a study of varied participants' responses to pain. They note that people who have a poorly regulated response to stress are also more sensitive to pain. Their subjects were 12 experienced yoga practitioners, 14 people with fibromyalgia (a condition many researchers consider a stress-related illness that is characterized by hypersensitivity to pain), and 16 healthy volunteers.

When the three groups were subjected to more or less painful thumbnail pressure, the participants with fibromyalgia—as expected—perceived pain at lower pressure levels compared with the other subjects. Functional MRIs showed they also had the greatest activity in areas of the brain associated with the pain response. In contrast, the yoga practitioners had the highest pain tolerance and lowest pain-related brain activity during the MRI.

From time to time I hear on the news tragic but very similar  stories about a person on antidepressant medication who for some reasons had stopped taking them and in uncontrollable rage pushed someone under a subway train or stabbed to death.

Maybe with yoga as an alternative treatment, innocent lives could’ve been saved? 

I also think that yoga is very democratic.

One needs nothing but a very small space and some time to spend. No equipment or facilities are necessary - yoga mat is more than enough. My husband and I always bring our mats on business trips. Folded they easily fit in handbags and no matter how busy we are, a 30 min. break for standing positions may always be found.