4 Common Yoga Myths Busted

Yoga originated in India several thousand years ago. There is no single source from which this originated but Rishi Patanjali formalized the teachings in a common book which describes the path to achieving Samadhi, the ultimate state which all beings strive to reach. In the last century Yoga started reaching the West through teachers who went to Europe and America. That provided a major boost to Yoga. At present there are millions of people who practice Yoga in America alone. In fact I found that the teachings of Yoga is better organized in America as compared to India, but the commercial angle is more there. There are several organized but independent efforts going on in US towards popularizing yoga. In India there are several important schools of yoga and dedicated yogis can be found in many places. But in recent years there is a revival of yoga in masses mainly through the efforts of Swami Ramdev. I will talk about him in some other article.

While there are millions of yoga practitioners in the world but there are equal number of skeptics also. There are several myths surrounding Yoga and which stop people from learning more about this great science and reap the benefits. The major opposition is from the religious institutions although that is breaking down. I have seen people in the US who were very enthusiastic when I talked about yoga, but at the same time I have seen very friendly people become closed, and this mostly consisted of the religiously conservative people. Here are some common myths about yoga.

1. Yoga Promotes HinduismOne of the major concerns of people who are interested in Yoga is that it promotes Hinduism. When you are a follower of any religion, practices of other religion can cause concerns. Although yoga is one of the six orthodox philosophies of Hinduism, Yoga does not promote Hinduism. It is a set of Mental and Physical practices which aim to take a person towards liberation. It is a scientific method, and any practitioner (Yogi) need not worship any Hindu god or goddess. In some practices there is chanting of OM or AUM but OM is not a god. It is the symbol of eternal omnipresent god. As per the ancient sages of India, they heard this sound in deep meditation and this is supposed to be the sound of the universe. This is called brahman (ultimate reality) and gist of all reality. Although Hindus worship different god and goddesses, but as per the root of Hinduism there is only one god who has no shape. OM is symbol of that god. Some teachers encourage the students to chant the sounds from their religion in case they have objections in chanting OM.
   
   To learn yoga there are no formal membership required of any organization or religion. There are no special temples for Yoga. It can be done at home.
   Yoga is about self mastery and achieving super consciousness by controlling self through practice rather than worshiping any god.



2. Yoga is for girls
   I have been exposed to yoga since childhood since there were weekly yoga classes in the school. That time, like many of my friends I did not take this seriously. Later on after I grew up, I had the feeling that yoga is not for men. In fact I used to joke that it is for lazy people as there hardly seems to me much activity. When you look at a yogi practicing it does not look much tough. Another factor is most of the yogis do not have muscles like the body builders, although it is another matter that they can have tremendous strength not visible from outside.
   
   Few years back I gained interest in yoga and when I started the basic poses, I suddenly realized that this is the hobby and passion of my life. Then came the "Light on Yoga" the great book from BKS Iyengar. I started to practice from the basic pose and realized how tough it is to practice even the basic poses if you are untrained. In body building you work on the major muscles, but in yoga you will come to be aware of muscles, tissues which you did not even know those existed. You gain great control over the various muscles in your body and will get knowledge about how to heal yourself.
   
   Most of the teachers have been male till last 40 years and in fact some of the teachers did not want to teach females as they thought they may not be able to practice strenuous routines. The image that it is for females is because of how it is marketed in the West. In India most of the teachers are still male. I for one would definitely vouch that it is for all human beings and in case you have still doubts it is better to try once. You will emerge a stronger and better human being.



3. Yoga is a set of stretching exercises and I don't have the flexibilityIt is true that yoga has stretching poses, but that is only one of the many routines. There are poses which increase the strength and stamina. There are poses which work on almost any part of the body. Yoga has poses which is beneficial for all the major systems of the body, like nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, reproductive system, muscular system etc.
   
   Beginners see the experienced yogis and think that they can never achieve such levels and get scared off or feel inferior. You need not compare yourself to any other person. Everybody is different. Even the most experience yogis keep on practicing to improve themselves. If you practice regularly you will see that you are making a progress every week. You will be surprised to see the results by constant practice. The point is to keep on practicing and improving. The joy is in the journey and not the perfection.



4. Yoga is Asana or Poses
   Most people associate yoga with Hata Yoga The physical aspect of yoga is the one which is promoted the most, but yoga consists of eight limbs called (Ashtanga Yoga - Eight limbs of Yoga). Hata Yoga is one of the eight, and works on the body to purify it, make it stronger and make it ready for the penance. Ultimate aim of yoga is to achieve Samadhi(Eight limb of Yoga), where in the yogi loses the difference between self and the subject through extreme levels of meditation.