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@innertransYoga has become increasingly popular and there are now about twenty million people, mostly women, practicing yoga in this country. The recent film YogaWoman http://www.yogawoman.tv/the-film . is very moving and inspiring and shows how women are transforming yoga and how yoga is transforming women from all walks of life all over the world: women in prisons, women in Africa, women who have cancer, women who have been sexually abused, women who are obese, women who are depressed…and ordinary women, women with busy lives, women who are stressed, women with children, women with careers. However, yoga is not for women only and there is an increasing population of men who practice and teach yoga with the same kinds of transformative experiences as women.
In fact, it was men who began the practice of yoga several thousand years ago in India. For many years, it was only men who practiced yoga, and women who practiced yoga were ostracized from their families and communities. When yoga cam to the United States in the sixties, it was brought by men from India, and almost all the great yoga masters were men until more recently. Many female yoga teachers have now become masters themselves and these yoginis are influencing the entire practice as they teach a new generation of teachers. Among the major female teachers who have been influential, many of them shown in the film YogaWoman, are Patricia Walden, Judith Lassater, Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Nischala Joy Devi, Angela Farmer, Cyndi Lee, Colleen Saidman and many others, and there are new teachers being trained all the time. There are many schools of yoga, Kripalu, Anusara, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Integral, Kundalini, Viniyoga, Jivamukti, to name several, and they all are variations of the practice of hatha yoga.
What makes yoga so popular in this culture? Contemporary life demands a great deal of us, stress levels are high and people find little that suggests that they slow down. Almost everyone I know, especially female colleagues, clients, friends and family, have lives that are busy or very busy. This includes single women, working mothers with young children, stay-at-home moms and even retired or semi-retired women. Men, too, have busy and pressured lives. Yoga is one of the best places to learn how to slow down, breathe, relax and feel. Students often feel relaxed, replenished and rejuvenated after a yoga class. While most people start yoga simply for physical exercise, many people come into yoga to deal with stress and stress-related disorders such as depression and anxiety, addictions, PTSD and recovery from illness or injury. As those of you who practice yoga know, the benefits are not just physical. After practicing for a while people discover that in addition to getting stronger and more flexible, they have a more positive attitude to life and may find a closer relationship to their spirituality. Yoga means yoke, the union of mind, body and spirit, and is designed to accomplish this through the breath, the breath of life.
In recent years, many yoga teachers have created ways to use yoga as therapy to help people heal from mental, emotional and physical disorders. Yoga therapy is designed to relax the body, calm the mind and quiet the nervous system. It is known to relieve hyperarousal of the neural pathways that contribute to depression, anxiety, PTSD and other stress-related conditions using yoga postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), visualization, relaxation, yoga nidra (yogic sleep) and meditation. Among these teachers are Amy Weintraub, Nischala Joy Devi, Gary Kraftsow, Joseph LaPage, Patricia Walden and Judith Lasater. Amy wrote the book Yoga for Depression: How Yoga Can Change Your Life, an excellent resource for people dealing with depression and anxiety, and she trains yoga teachers all over the country as well as presenting her work at professional conferences for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and marriage and family therapists. I have been trained by Amy http://www.yogafordepression.com/lifeforceyoga.html and have been inspired to offer workshops and classes as well as indiviual yoga therapy to help people cope with depression, anxiety, PTSD and other stress-related disorders. In yoga therapy, ancient yogic practices are combined with more modern self-healing techniques based on the new sciences of neurobiology and psychoneuroimmunology. These practices help each individual to overcome his or her emotional and life challenges. Since each person’s biochemistry, history, needs, desires, current reality and physical conditions are unique, the therapy is customized for the individual. When offered in a group setting, such as a workshop or class, these concepts and practices are introduced and people can begin to experience and release their barriers to inner peace and wholeness.
I will be offering a workshop, “Lifting Your Spirits With Yoga,” at Yoga for Everybody on January 7, 2012 from 3-5:30pm. In this workshop, you will have the opportunity to experience postures, breathing, affirmation, visualization, relaxation and meditation to energize the body, calm the mind and open the heart to compassion for self and others. To register, contact Yoga4Everybody.net – Yoga For Everybody.
