The Science of Yoga

 

I snapped up William J Broad's The Science of Yoga when it appeared on Brotherhood Books. 2022 marks the fourth year -- possibly even the fifth? -- that I have done a yoga session every morning; I think I've only missed two days due to sickness. I'm well aware of the benefits that regular yoga has brought to me: I am SO much more flexible, aware of my body, some long-standing aches and stiffness have been ironed out, and my mental health has improved. As soon as I sit down on my mat in front of the big window and start the rounds of slow breathing before I begin the exercises, I feel calm descend. So I was intrigued to read Broad's account of the changing claims for yoga as it's spread through the western world.

For a while there was a wild assertion that yoga was the only form of exercise that a healthy person would ever need -- despite the fact that while yoga excels at slowing and calming, it's not that great at raising your heart rate (unless you deliberately plunge into energetic repetitions of the Sun Salutation). Reminders not to push too hard, not to contort too forcefully, made more sense as I read about cases of stroke and injury -- no wonder instructions for headstands and shoulder stands don't appear in newer textbooks! 

On the other hand, benefits for mental health, gentle physical healing, creativity and apparently sex lives are starting to be better documented. Yoga is fantastic at doing what it does; the danger lies when we try to co-opt it into fields where it doesn't belong.