If all yoga had to offer was its exercise benefits, those alone would be extremely important. Please keep in mind Inner Athlete’s post in this thread mentioning there is so much more to yoga than just the exercise.
There is a neuroendocrinologist named Robert Sapolsky at Stanford who has studied the effects of stress. He says “The stress response is critical to our survival, as for example when we run away from a physical danger. What is interesting is that we turn on the exact same stress response for purely psychological states: thinking about our job, the taxes we have to pay, or a thirty-year mortgage.“The key difference,” says Dr. Sapolski, “is we are not doing it for a real physiological reason and we are doing it non-stop.” So by not turning off the stress response for “life’s traffic jams,” we secrete the same corrosive hormones, and after a while, the stress response is more damaging than the stress itself. Chronic stress undermines our immune system, clogs our arteries, restricts blood flow and kills brain cells which affect learning and memory. New findings also show that stress shortens the genetic structures, called telomeres, which protect the ends of our chromosomes from fraying. The shortening of the telomeres accelerates the aging process…”
Jnani Chapman, RN says “The effects of yoga-as stress management which have been documented including parasympathetic nervous system activation which lowers the heart rate and the blood pressure thereby reducing the body’s demand (need) for oxygen. Other effects of yoga practices which have been documented include improving digestion, elimination and immune function, increasing the vital lung capacity and tidal volume; and reducing anxiety and depression.”
Yoga Journal says “To build your parasympathetic nervous system, you need to do poses that encourage deep relaxation, such as forward bends and hip openers; do fewer standing poses; and do more sitting, supine, and prone postures as well as inversions. You also need to hold poses longer, as you would in restorative yoga, and dedicate longer periods of time to developing slow and complete breathing. Vigorous vinyasa, backbends, handstands, and arm balances are powerful and beneficial, but they don’t stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system as much as the practices listed previously.”
My own practice includes 3 days/week of vigorous workouts (weights & cardio), then 4 days/week of yoga emphasizing movements with a slow pace, strong holds, deep breathing, as this allows my mind to become somewhat meditative with the breath and body synchronicity. Also, I do a yoga nidra practice a few times/month, as well as some pranayama. I find the restorative aspects very important.
My sense is this is just the tip of the iceberg, as from looking through the Yoga Sutras there appear to be many wonderful spiritual experiences possible through the various pratyahara practices.
Anyway, I respect both the exercise and spiritual aspects of yoga, so just wanted to clarify from my other post.
