A Modern Yogic Approach

If you read The Hatha Yoga Pradipika that is a classic Sanskrit manual on Hatha Yoga, written by Svami Svatmarama and said to be the oldest surviving text on Hatha Yoga, it will tell you that the reason for a Yoga practice is to strengthen and purify the body to prepare it for long periods of meditation in one posture. To my mind many people today could benefit from a regular asana and meditation practice simply because of what they do for most of their day; which is stay in one position for long periods of time. For example, we spend allot of time in our information society sitting in front of the computer or a desk, it’s taking a toll on the body and the mind.

In a book entitled Manthropology and provocatively sub-titled "The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male." John Mehaffey from Reuters webpage summarizes Peter McAllister expounding on how wimpy we are in our modern society. He states, "The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40 percent of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days.

When I instruct yoga I work with all types of bodies, and one of the most common complaints I hear about is wrist pain, shoulder tightness, and low back pain. It’s possible I could blame the office chairs, but then I would have to extent that to sofas, stools, dining room chairs, etc. These types of chairs promote comfort, and usually that results in slouching forward. The extensors in the back and the muscles that we use to hold our ribcage up become weak. Mc Allaster goes on to say,” We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past so our bodies haven't developed.

Not only does the body suffer by repeated inactivity, but the mind also is affected. In meditation the mind is reigned in to produce a calmer state, however by staring at a screen, or multi-tasking all day at a desk results in an over stimulated mind under active body , and possibility an inability to relax even after the “work” day is over.

Having a regular asana practice as well as a meditation practice can help strengthen and tone the body to help it prepare for long periods of sitting. By obtaining the right knowledge of sitting, and looking at old habits that are causing you to suffer you will begin to experience that it is less effort to sit in balance, than imbalance. Furthermore, the mind benefits by breaking from the constant stimulus at work, so that the sitting and multi-tasking becomes sustainable. As McAllaster recalls from the past, "We wouldn't want to go back to the brutality of those (prehistoric) days but there are some things we would do well to profit from."

For the complete Article:

http://www.reuters.com