Yoga and The Body

Yoga And The Body

Emily Watt

CSOCS 3452

Professor Douglass

December 12, 2011

Yoga and the Body

Yoga in our culture today is a practice often characterized by its focus on the mind-body connection, the term itself comes from the Sanskrit word Yuj, which means “to unite” (Chong, C. M., Tsunaka, M., Tsang, H. H., Chan, E. P., & Wai Ming, C, 2011, p. 32). In a culture where the physical body is highly regarded and less importance is given to the mental/emotional side of one’s being, it is no surprise that the focus of advertising yoga to the masses of the western world has centered around the physical body. With enticements like weight loss and building a stronger body, we see how this is effective with the explosion of yoga in the past number of years. The role of the body is central to the discussion of yoga as a healing modality but it should not be the only piece. While there is great benefit to the physical body in doing today’s modern yoga we run the risk of upholding this cultural facade. To present yoga solely in this way is inaccurate and unfair. Eastern philosophy views the body as an integral part of a larger whole and this view may be a better mindset to approach yoga with. When we can look at yoga as a practice through which all pieces of ourselves work to reach greater harmony we have a healthier more appropriate view.

To bring yoga to the forefront with the focus being around the physical body makes sense because that is what people today, especially woman, can relate to. For example, Dorothy Foltz-Gray (2004) in her article published in Health magazine, says that she decided to try Anusara yoga after hearing that it “was helping people feel better about their bodies” (p. 59). She goes on to discuss how she feels pretty comfortable in her own skin today but that it has taken years of pushing her body in extreme forms of exercise, like running, to get her to the place she is today. This brings up the topic of suffering and wholeness that Arthur Kilmurray (2000) talks about in his article Wholeness as Healing. The idea that we are always striving for a future goal and are never satisfied with what we have in the present moment is, according to Kilmurray, the cause of human suffering (p. 32). The western mindset is supposedly that of individuation but the underlying implication is that no one is perfect as they are. This is especially prevalent in the way body ideals are upheld in our culture, through the media outlets that reach children at very young ages and teach them that they need to look like the sickly model on the cover of every magazine. With the emphasis on outward appearance individuals grow up focusing on only that one area of their being and often don’t realize there are other aspects of the self that must be nurtured too, like the spiritual and emotional side of being human.

Eating disorders are an example of the result of this dichotomy in our western view of the body. Jennifer Daubenmier (2005) in her article The Relationship of Yoga, Body Awareness, and Body Responsiveness to Self-objectification and Disordered Eating, discusses the “impact of sexual objectification on the way woman experience their own bodies” (p. 207). It is important to note here that it is not just woman that fall victim to finding extreme measures to achieve this “ideal” body type. Men are also led to believe that they are not good enough as they are and that they must conform to societies standard of “good-looking” in order to live happy successful lives. The research has focused a lot on the objectification of woman and they therefore will be the focus of this discussion on eating disorders.

Daubenmier (2005) states that “ women are socialized to view themselves as objects of evaluation, a phenomenon referred to as ‘self-objectification’” defined as “a form of self-consciousness, which leads to vigilant monitoring of the body’s outward appearance and is associated with asking oneself, ‘how do I look’ rather than ‘how do I feel’” (p. 208). I don’t know too many girls or woman today who cannot relate to this form of self-consciousness. We are brought up in a culture where the emphasis on success is around outward appearance. No matter how much parents try to shelter their children from mass media it is an unavoidable lesson learned in our culture. This idea of always concentrating on how “I look” rather than how “I feel” is obviously going to have some negative impacts. Daubenmier (2005) suggests that over time this concentration around body loathing and feelings of inadequacy can lead to “negative psychological outcomes” such as “increased feelings of shame, diminished awareness of internal states, including bodily sensations and emotions, and reduced peak motivational states” (p. 208). These detrimental effects are thought to therefore be contributing to the rising rates of depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders among young girls and women (Daubenmier, 2005). We can see from these findings how yoga could be a very effective way to help women realize a different relationship to their body, one that asks “how do I feel” more often than “how do I look”.

Robin Boudette (2006) is a yoga teacher specializing in the treatment of eating disorders and she offers some insight into how yoga can be a great form of healing for individuals suffering from anorexia or bulimia. She says;

Yoga enables patients to experience their bodies in a new way. Living in a society that values how you look more than how you feel, eating disorder patients often relate to the body as an ornament; they suffer from a disconnection from the body, feelings, appetites, and inner experience. In an authentic yoga class, you will find no mirrors. Rather than having all the senses focused on the external, awareness is tuned to internal sensations. (p.168).

The fact that this idea of tuning in to our inner selves is a new concept to many of us is extremely telling of where our culture holds its priorities. Women suffering from eating disorders fall onto the extreme end of a continuum that includes any minor body dissatisfaction or self-hatred. Again I would be hard pressed to find any woman in today’s modern world who hasn’t struggled with negative self-talk at one point or another. One suggestion for battling this disordered thinking is to engage in physical activity of any type to help girls and women “experience their bodies in more direct and appropriate ways” (Daubenmier, 2005, p. 208). While this is the ideal goal of such activities there is a marked difference in how this will play out depending on the setting and form of the physical activity. Daubenmier (2005) argues that yoga is the preferred activity because it’s “underlying goal is to unify body and mind” (p. 208). In a yoga studio where there are no mirrors the focus is drawn inward as opposed to most gyms and athletic centers today where every where we turn we are faced with the image of our physical body. Here we can see how other forms of exercise could be contributing to keeping the focus on the external body and physical appearance and suppressing the internal, mental/emotional side of oneself. It is a very different experience to move the body through poses when you cannot see your image in a mirror and the research is showing that this is an important piece of why it is more helpful than other forms of exercise in the treatment of eating disorders. Dittmann, K. and Freedman, M. (2009) in their review of the research say, “postural yoga uses the body as a vehicle for self-discovery through which attention is focused inward and the practitioner transcends the mind-body divide and experiences the true self or soul” (p. 274) So in merging the physical with the mental we aim to diminish this disconnect and become more aware of our bodily processes and tune into how the body and mind communicate.

With yoga being practiced by around 15 million people today in the United States (Smith, J., Greer, T., Sheets, T., & Watson, S., 2011, p. 22) it is obvious that there are different forms being utilized. While the physical is still at the forefront there are a range of options as to the focus of any one class. To look at it in two broad categories we have the exercise-based classes and the classes that also integrate more of the ethical/spiritual component, or as Smith et al. (2011) calls it, a “comprehensive yoga practice” (p.22). These two categories can be broken down further with the traditional forms of yoga each focusing on one facet of the human being. These include jnana yoga (knowledge), karma yoga (action), bhakti yoga (emotional), and Hatha yoga (physical body) (Ryan, 2005, p. 24). Hatha yoga is the one that is most mainstream in our culture today and focuses on breath, postures and sometimes meditation practices (Chong, C. M., Tsunaka, M., Tsang, H. H., Chan, E. P., & Wai Ming, C., 2011, p. 32). The exercise-based classes often have mirrors on the walls that keep the central focus on the physical. The classes that incorporate, to a much greater degree, the ethical, spiritual, emotional side, aim at building stronger inner selves with a big focus on calming down and relaxing. Ravi Ravindra (2006) in his book The Spiritual Roots of Yoga says that in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra the purpose of yoga is to “ lead to a silence of the mind” (p. 47). With many of these classes incorporating practices of meditation we are getting back to some of the original ideas of yoga. In discussions of this “silencing of the mind” there is much emphasis on the bodies innate capacity to reach this silence without any effort and without the assistance of any formal practice. This becomes a very interesting piece of yoga today and any meditation class or practice that one engages in will play with the idea that we need to become better at silencing the mind but that we mustn’t put any great effort into this process. It is hard for some to grasp this idea when they have been conditioned to view the mind as a separate entity from the rest of the body. For those of us who take a more holistic stance it is easier to accept that the mind-body connection is more fluid and this process can be trusted to take place once we are made aware of its necessity.

Eastern philosophies on yoga bring to the west a focus on these other aspects of ourselves that often get ignored leading to many of the dis-eases that we see in abundance today. Things like diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders, depression and cardiovascular disease are thought by some to be caused at least in part by the high stress world we live in (Ross, A. & Thomas, S., 2010, p. 3) . Alyson Ross and Sue Thomas (2010) point to the physiological processes of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system as being in constant states of hypervigilence when we spend much of our time living under stress (p. 3). They contend that when our bodies are in this fight-or-flight mode over an extended period of time these two systems stop working correctly and may lead to these conditions. In their work Ross and Thomas (2010) site multiple studies that show yoga having a very positive impact on the reduction of time spent in fight-or-flight mode. They say that “ studies have shown yoga to have an immediate downregulating effect on both the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system’s response to stress.” (p. 3). The goal of yoga is therefore to bring the body back into a place of homeostasis where these systems are no longer working in overdrive. The comprehensive yoga classes get at this better because they incorporate the meditation and mindfulness aspects more than the exercise based-classes. Smith et al. (2011) say that “meditation has been associated with diminished stress and worry, decreased anxiety and depressive symptomology” as well as an increased sense of hopefulness (p. 22). It should come as no surprise that there are great consequences to living a high stress life and yoga is becoming one of the mainstream ways we can combat this harmful lifestyle.

From my personal experience yoga does everything that the research is saying it does. It has helped me foster my spiritual side in a way I may never have discovered if not for the yoga classes I have taken and the books I have read. It has made me much more aware of the present moment and the importance of listening to what my body is telling me. The first yoga class I ever attended definitely involved me pushing myself too far in postures, wanting to do it like the expert beside me, but soon I learned to tune in and listen to where my body felt comfortable going. I know that I am impartial to a holistic view of health but there is so much research pointing to the many benefits of yoga that it’s hard to find many studies that paint it in a negative light. It is a practice that is so tailored to the individual experiencing what they can from it that if someone were to argue against its benefits means that they didn’t find any use for it in their own life. For those of us who need scientific evidence to believe something has merit in today’s modern world of research and lab testing, we can find many articles that show real benefits to the physical body that make it applicable to more than just the hippies of the 60’s. Not only have I reaped benefits to my spiritual/emotional self but also to my physical body. At the beginning of this semester I had not be engaged in a regular yoga practice for a few years and after our very first session I was instantly reminded that I had to make it a priority for my overall health but especially some physical conditions like lower back and neck pain. Through the course of these three short months I am feeling less aches and pains and much more flexible, I have been able to find the time to practice at least 3-4 times weekly and I hope to make that everyday now that I am finishing at Lesley.

In conclusion, the eastern philosophies that see the body as one piece of a larger whole would be an appropriate view for us westerners to adopt in hopes of bridging the gap between the physical and the mental. Ken Wilber in his book No Boundaries (2001) asks the question “do you feel you are a body, or do you feel you have a body?” (p. 5). This simple question is very telling of how someone relates to this mind-body split. If they say they have a body it would seem that they view that as a separate entity from their mind, while saying you are a body gives more of the idea that you are a whole part that cannot be separated into different pieces. Wilber (2001) adds to this by saying, “the mind-body split and attendant dualism is a fundamental perspective of Western civilization” (p. 6). Through the practice of yoga and the teachings of Eastern philosophy we can begin to bring a harmony back into our lives that our Western world has not fostered. This new mindset brings an all-encompassing perspective that allows for much greater health and happiness.

References

Boudette, R. (2006). Question & answer: Yoga in the treatment of disordered eating and body image disturbance: how can the practice of yoga be helpful in recovery from an eating disorder? Eating Disorders, 14(2), 167-170.

Chong, C. M., Tsunaka, M., Tsang, H. H., Chan, E. P., & Wai Ming, C. (2011). Effects of yoga on stress management in healthy adults: a systematic review. Alternative Therapies In Health & Medicine, 17(1), 32-38.

Daubenmier, J. J. (2005). The relationship of yoga, body awareness, and body responsiveness to self-objectificatin and disordered eating. Psychology Of Women Quarterly, 29(2), 207-219.

Dittmann, K. A., & Freedman, M. R. (2009). Body awareness, eating attitudes, and spiritual beliefs of women practicing yoga. Eating Disorders, 17(4), 273-292.

Foltz-Gray, D. (2004). Nurture your body image with yoga. Health. Jan/Feb, 59-63.

Kilmurray, A. (n.d). Wholeness as Healing. 32-33. Retrieved on December 13, 2011 from http://my.lesley.edu.

Ravindra, R. (2006). The spiritual roots of yoga. Sandpoint, ID: Morning Light Press.

Ross, A. & Thomas, S. (2010). The health benefits of yoga and exercise: A review of comparison studies. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(1), 3-12.

Ryan, J. (2005). The complete yoga. Revision, 28(2), 24-28).

Smith, J., Greer, T., Sheets, T., & Watson, S. (2011). Is There More to Yoga Than Exercise? Alternative Therapies In Health & Medicine, 17(3), 22-29.

Wilber, K. (2001). No Boundaries. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.