Yoga is a very ancient practice that originated in India around the sixth or fifth centuries BCE. There are different types of yoga. Yoga has benefits that can help in reducing problems such as anxiety, stress, addiction, depression, and along with other mental health disorders. Yoga not only helps with many illnesses and disorders but can help improve your overall self. In “Mindfulness and Yoga for Self-Regulation : A Primer for Mental Health” published by Catherine Cook, she discusses the importance of overall wellbeing. Cook states that “Self as entity is a body, a thing, an object. Self as process is a route, a journey, a practice, a river of ever-changing experience. (Cook-Cottone)” In this paper, the reader will discover both sides of yoga, the positive benefits it can have and consider the negative side effects and injuries that yoga can potentially cause. “Regular practice of yoga promotes strength, endurance, flexibility and facilitates characteristics of friendliness, compassion, and greater self-control, while cultivating a sense of calmness and wellbeing(Cook-Cottone).” Yoga is regarded as being a form of complementary and alternative medicine by the National Institutes of Health. One main goal of yoga is to relax, and achieve tranquility of the mind and create a sense of improved efficiency, attentiveness, self-confidence, and improve your views on life. 

I am personally interested in this subject because I recently started attending yoga classes just to stretch out after a hard lift but got so much more out of the class than just a good stretch. One main thing I noticed right away was how calm and quiet my mind was after a session and the clear thinking that followed. I felt a peace and calmness I have only experienced a handful of times after each yoga session. Attending yoga classes created an interest in this subject that I had not done anything about until I decided to research the topic of yoga. 

The history of yoga is significant to those who are interested in participating in the activity because it can show how common it has become overtime and what has caused it to grow so popular. The word “yoga” comes from the root word yuj which means “to join” or “to attach”. The word can also be related to the yoking of oxen or to harness oxen together joining them. Yoga means yoking of the animal which is the untamed mind or your consciousness. The yoke is taming the animal or as a synonym to yoga taming your consciousness. Yoga is the practice of taking control of your mind and awareness. Yoga was first described in the text Yoga Sutras which outlines the eight-fold path to awareness and enlightenment. Yoga is a practice that has caught some exponential growth recently in the western world “2 million people were practicing yoga in 1995, by 2011 20 million people practicing yoga. (TED Talk)” The most popular form of yoga especially in the western world is Hatha yoga and meditation. This yoga incorporates physical postures along with focus on breathing. The focus is to unite your breathing, physical body, and concentration. Many people identify yoga with just the asana which is the physical practice of yoga. However, Catherine Woodyard states that asana is referenced in just 3 out of the 196 sutras that are used to heal an individual. The eightfold path is called ashtanga, which means eight limbs. These limbs are made up of ethical principles for living a meaningful and life of purpose. Yoga’s physical postures and breathing routines help get the body and mind ready for meditation and the development of your actions both internally and externally.       

Yoga is a unique form of fitness that involves a combination of not only physical activity but also internal mindful focus on your breathing, energy, and self, instead of simply working your muscles out you are exercising your mind and body. Catherine Woodyard states four basic principles of yoga which can describe how practicing yoga is more effective mentally and not only physically. One is that the human body is a holistic entity composed of various interrelated dimensions that affect the other dimensions. The other is that everyone is different in the fact that their needs are unique from person to person. The third principle is that yoga is self-empowering. This means that the person practicing yoga is their own healer. The healing comes within and not from an external remedy. The last is that the individual's state of mind is a crucial part in the healing process. Healing will occur more quickly if the person has a positive outlook and state of mind rather than a negative state of mind.   

Yoga has many different purposes and meanings to people but some of the principal meanings of yoga can include attaining a goal. The most recent yoga classes that I have taken the instructor opened by asking everyone to focus on one goal we had in mind and to focus on that goal. Yoga helps one to be able to control your mind against impulsive decision making, and overcome addictions, as well as help improve your overall well-being controlling your mind and body, and it is a philosophy to others. It can help with dysfunctional perception and cognition problems like depression, anxiety, and addiction. Yoga can help with people that suffer from substance abuse problems. People that have substance abuse problems have trouble controlling their decisions regarding caffeine, alcohol, drugs, opioids, and many other destructive things. This is a disorder that makes it almost impossible to moderate your consumption of a harmful substance. 

 In Catherine Cook-Cottone’s book “Mindfulness and Yoga for Self-Regulation” she explains how egoism or attachment to ego is one cause of suffering and that is an obstacle. Many people that suffer from eating disorders, self-harm, drinking, and substance abuse can benefit from practicing yoga and improving your mindfulness. In Catherine's book, she points out that these issues arise because there is a problem with self-regulation. She references the term Hungry Ghost which means that your desires never are satisfied and you constantly shift to the next desire or thing that satisfies you. This can result in addiction to harmful things yoga and mindful meditation can help people that suffer from addiction. It helps addicts to accept their human existence and develop a detached awareness of their thoughts and addictions. Yoga can improve people’s self-control and can have positive benefits for people that are struggling with a mental health disorder or just not satisfied with your present self or want to improve your physical and mental health.  

. Through yoga you can overcome this obstacle of self-regulation that can obscure your inner access to what you are and your mindfulness by taking effective action through the practice of yoga and meditation. The active process of constructing, regulating, and experiencing the self requires practice.    

In the Ted talk “Recognizing Your Self Through Yoga” Aimee who was the speaker suffered from major depression and anorexia, an eating disorder. She was in and out of rehab and had seen doctors and therapists and nothing was working. Aimee even had suicidal thoughts at times and the doctors told her and her parents that she could count on being in and out of a mental hospital the rest of her life. This is when she decided to step up and act. Aimee started to attend yoga classes that changed her life around. “Consistent yoga practice improves depression and can lead to significant increases in serotonin levels coupled with decreases in the levels of monoamine oxidase, an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters and cortisol.” Catherine Woodyard states this in her article “Exploring the Therapeutic Effects of Yoga and Its Ability to Increase Quality of Life” which is supporting evidence that yoga can help with depression. She began to love herself and overcome her mental disorders she was dealing with that were ultimately taking over her life. Aimee now teaches yoga as a profession and is living a much more fulfilling life. This is just one extreme case where we see how yoga saved a women’s life that was struggling with depression and along with other problems.  

Yoga can have an impact on more minute aspects of your body. For example, yoga improves your flexibility. The flexibility gained through the practice can loosen muscles and connect the muscle tissues to the joints and bones. This can be attributed to the relief of physical pain or aches. Yoga strengthens your muscles and bones which can help decrease back pain or arthritis. During a session of yoga, “you take your joints through a full range of motion which brings fresh nutrients, blood, and oxygen to that specific area. Yoga also increases blood flow and red blood cells which improve the amount of oxygen that reach the body’s cells. Yoga improves your cardiovascular functioning by lowering your heart rate. (Woodyard)” 

Restorative yoga poses can help people that suffer from insomnia because these poses offer a turning inward of the senses and rest time for the central nervous system which has been linked to improved sleep. “Yoga's ability to increase relaxation and induce a balanced mental state was studied to evaluate its effect on sleep quality and improving insomnia. Regular practice of yoga resulted in a significant decrease in the time taken to fall asleep, an increase in the total number of hours slept, and in the feeling of being rested in the morning. (Woodyard)” I can say that I have experienced better sleep the weeks and nights I attended yoga classes.  

The growth of tumors is enhanced with stress. Yoga can reduce stress which is a sought-after goal of many suffering from cancer. Through the practice of yoga, you can “unblock pathways of energy to organs or joints that would normally be running through your body but can become blocked by a variety of reasons. (Monroe)”      

This is evidence behind my claims about the positive effects that yoga can have in your life, however there are opposing views to these claims about yoga. Bikram yoga is a form of yoga that you practice at extremely heated conditions. This type of yoga can be harmful to your health for a couple reasons. In the article “Hot Yoga: Booming, But It May Be Bad for You” Scott Cameron states “A true Bikram yoga class whose instructor must be trained at the Bikram Yoga College of India, based in Los Angeles moves through a fixed series of traditional poses in a 90-minute session, in a room with an air temperature of 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity. Many studios tinker with the formula to offer their own versions of hot yoga. (Cameron)” The heat raises your body temperature which increases your heart rate. You can stretch farther when your body temperature is raised and therefore can cause the joint to surpass its normal range of motion. If you pass your joints or muscles range of motion there is the possibility you could pull your muscle. This problem can be avoided by paying attention to your body temperature, you should make sure that your body doesn’t over heat. Also, do not stretch past a normal comfortable level you would stretch under in normal conditions. If you follow both of those instructions you will greatly increase your safety while preforming yoga.

In Sura’s article “The Dark Side of Yoga” we see another problem that yoga can cause which is how the personality of the instructor can influence your practice of yoga. If the yoga instructor approaches the session with aggression and makes it a competition that can cause people to push themselves farther than they should be. Other yoga instructors can have a safe and peaceful approach which will not pose the same problem as the former. The Article by Scott Cameron also references the fact that some instructors can push people to far and often in the Bikram Yoga College the instructors get taught to push the students to stretch further than they normally would.  

“Injuries: In 2010, the Consumer Products Safety Commission reported that yoga-related injuries in emergency rooms and doctor’s offices rose to 7,369. Yoga injuries are very common. The most common yoga injuries include neck, back, knee and shoulder injuries. This includes torn muscles, herniated disks and carpal tunnel. (Sura)” This is a point that cannot be discredited however compared to the number of people practicing yoga that I stated earlier this is a small fraction of that total number. In 2011 20 million people were practicing yoga compared to around seven thousand injured is less than half a percent. Sura offers remedies to help steer clear from getting injured while practicing yoga. These include listening to your body and do not push a pose that feels uncomfortable and to go at your own pace. Yoga should not be based on how fast people around you are going or what stretches that they modify to be harder. She even recommends that if you need to get up and leave to recover as a tip if you need to. 

When yoga is practiced safely and regularly yoga can have very beneficial effects in increasing your mindfulness. Mindfulness is linked to positive outcomes, by increasing ability to self-regulate and have control over your awareness and flexibility in your awareness. “Mindfulness is a quality of consciousness, a changing receptive awareness of ongoing internal states, behaviors, and external realities. Mindfulness includes virtue which means to regulate your actions, words, and thoughts to create benefits for yourself and not harm. (Cook-Cottone)” Yoga can help you live a more virtuous life through giving the mind the power to make decisions and choices that you truly desire to make or to not make. Aristotle is quoted saying “we become what we repeatedly do” and through a steady practice of yoga I believe you can shape your mind into the reality you really desire. Yoga is a form of mind-body medicine that incorporates an individual's mental, physical, and spiritual realm to improve aspects of overall health or illnesses mentioned earlier including, stress, depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, self-image problems, mental health disorders, and overall health. Yoga therapy can be a helpful aid that “involves instruction in yogic practices and teachings to prevent reduce or alleviate structural, physiological, emotional and spiritual pain, suffering or limitations. (Nurriestearns)” 

I have shown the positive effects yoga can have in your life physically, spiritually, and mentally. The positive effects of yoga can reduce stress, depression, and help with other mental disorders. I referenced sources that are scholarly and credible but I also have first-hand experienced the claims that they back up with the tests and results they reference. Stress has an overall negative affect on your body. Stress can lead to anxiety and depression as well. Yoga is the purest cure that I see to many problems people deal with every day. Yoga doesn’t involve a drug prescription that is going to solve all your problems by taking pills the doctor gives you for your illness. Yoga gets down to the basics by getting you in touch with your body and mind ultimately improving your life.            

  