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"Y oga,” says Sri Arobindo, notable yogi, poet and philosopher, “is nothing but practical psychology.” Said over 50 years ago, this sentiment embodies a particular perspective with which we here in the West are only recently becoming acquainted.
To the ancient yogis of India, it’s nothing new. Yoga has been practiced and appreciated as an effective form of psychological therapy for thousands of years. However, having recently attained popularity here in North America, initially as a fitness fad, yoga is only now gaining our attention, appreciation, and respect for its therapeutic qualities.
A regular yoga practice can not only help to maintain a healthy body but can also be important for stimulating the brain and nervous system to alleviate stress or psychological tension. Among its many benefits, yoga has a surprisingly profound impact on the brain. To the casual observer, yoga is nothing more than a physical workout - a set of slow poses and stretches to work the muscles, joints, and limbs. But if you have ever attended a session, you’ll know that appearances are misleading. While in essence, a yoga routine is based on physical motions and stretches, it incorporates and affects much more than just the body. Not only are the poses designed to stimulate the brain and nervous system, but the workout demands calm, careful, and focused attention. Regular yoga practice therefore, helps keep a healthy body and a healthy mind.
The role of the mind and its wellbeing are intricately interwoven into the greater fabric of yoga practice, and mild psychological effects are immediate. No one is entirely without stress or psychological tension, and yoga can and will help alleviate it. For starters, everyone has felt the high after a good workout and Yoga is no different in this respect. Exercise stimulates and encourages biological processes such as circulation and respiration, which in turn affect the brain by supplying increased, healthy, oxygenated blood. Heightened physical activity also promotes the elimination of toxins and impurities in the body, leaving you more energetic and clearer of mind.
"Yoga,” says Sri Arobindo, notable yogi, poet and philosopher, “is nothing but practical psychology.” However, yoga has specific benefits that aren’t shared by other, more common, forms of exercise. Five thousand years of practice, experimentation, and development have yielded a surprising workout. The result is an exercise tradition that works not only muscles and organs, but specifically targets the nervous system as well, with poses and routines designed to stimulate and open up nerve connections.
But how is this important psychologically? In Part 2 of this article, we’ll look into how a regular practice of Yoga can engage and positively impact an individual’s entire nervous system. |
