Yesterday I had my first actual yoga lesson. While I will say that my instructor was very good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, how the lesson went is not the point of this post. The point of this post is this: yoga seems to be a system of faith built around observations of human physiology and psychology, made before those fields existed. In my opinion the scientific basis of the practice is sound.
The lesson started with chatting, (seriously don’t laugh it's important). Chatting or singing (like in church) can induce mild hypoxia, which places the brain in a state where visions or other religious type experiences are possible. Yes it seems silly to starve your brain of oxygen in order to find spiritual peace, but since the chatting was responsive there was time to breath so it was mild hypoxia.
Most of the exercises are isometric stretching, designed to increase flexibility and decrease the likelihood of injury. In order to do them properly you have to be symmetric in your movement which for most people (including me) is difficult so you work the weaker muscles harder, which improves posture and better posture is associated with reduced back, joint and muscle pain.
Some of the exercises were designed to “massage the organs”, which given most of the organs are surrounded by the ribs is difficult, but they do serve a purpose. Besides the main vascular system (which carries the blood) there is second vascular system is called the lymphatic system which drains the fluids that leak into the tissue. However the lymphatic system does not have a heart to power the movement of the fluids, so it is powered exclusively the movement of the muscles. This means fluid can kind of move sluggishly in certain areas since certain muscle groups are rarely used. These organ massaging exercises use these muscle groups, which can increase the flow of the lymph. (A point of note, when you hear people talking about flushing toxins, etc, it all sounds like new age babble, it kind of isn’t since lymph is not the cleanest fluid in your body and it is the hangout of a good part of your immune system. (For the same reason the EPA likes to monitor waste water.) So, if you have cancer or are at risk for cancer, you might want to think twice about purging your lymphatic system because cancer cells often metastasize to distant sites using the lymphatic system, and a purge might help them on their journey.) So, while you can’t massage the organs you can move them, which also speeds along their lymph plus feels neat since how often are you conscious of your internal organs?
The breathing exercises are designed induce hyperventilation, which causes a state of light headedness and euphoria, and a little euphoria never hurt a religious experience. However, the breathing exercises also help you fully inflate your lungs, since most people really don’t and that can cause what seems like diminished lung capacity since with out a high flow of air in and out the lungs have a hard time cleaning themselves.
There are exercises to select the nostril, and control the breathing, or force the breathing with muscles not normally used that way for breathing. There is a focus in Yoga on controlling muscles not normally consciously controlled. The eye movement exercises are a prime example of controling muscles that are not normally consciously controlled. By forcing the person to take over and control autonomic functions the conscious mind is made more aware of them can better control them. In addition the conscious mind is only capable of doing so much per unit time so if it is having control the breathing (or whatever) then it is harder to think about other things, and thus the mind is cleared of extraneous thoughts. (Plus the state of euphoria can really diminish mental capacity so it is easy to clear your mind if you can’t focus on anything anyway.) Therefore, while you meditate, if your breathing stops or changes that should be a “tell” that a thought has entered your mind, so an observer can instruct you to “focus on your breathing” in order to clear your mind. Perhaps knowing my own “tell” will help me clear my mind, since when I stop thinking about breathing is when a thought can enter my mind, so I can be proactive.
Speaking of clearing your head, you know those freaky psychedelic mediation pictures? Well once your head is clear and your eyes are closed, they look remarkable like the low light resting state activation of the optic nerve. As long as you are awake your mind continues to process signals from the optic nerve, so the light that gets through your eye lids simulated the night vision which gives what you see a bright background, but the color receptors fire less coherently which creates patterns of color. (I wonder if women see more color in what they see? (In general women have better color vision in low light.) But more interestingly is the reason that pictures that are psychedelic or whatever are that way is because the brain perceives them the same way it perceives the low light resting state activation of the optic nerve, and then can’t reconcile that with the other information it is receiving?)
Finally I’ll briefly cover the physiological aspects of the experience. The most powerful psychological point is that Yoga removes anxiety and induces peace. This not only calms the mind but can relax the muscles thereby easing pain caused by muscle spasms or pinched nerves. However, in a time before Prozac and Xanax reducing anxiety was the most effective cure for depression and anxiety, since people’s problems were gone after the session, the effect is similar to short acting drugs. Yoga also teaches people to let go and not stress over events in their life that are out of their control and lets face it if people could as the Yogis say “Do your best and then move on” we would be much happier as a society. Since that isn’t going to happen Yoga offers a means to calm one’s self, quickly and efficiently when stress arises. It also helps people conquer their fear of death, which is a big fear to most people. There are deeper psychological aspects that while they have funny names in Yoga are covered extensively in Western psychology but I think I have rambled on long enough for now. But I caution people, that Yoga will not cure the underlying psychological issues, only help you suppress them better. Someday you will have to deal with those issues.
To close I find Yoga to be a very well crafted expression of science as a belief system. If done carefully Yoga can help you achieve much of what it promises, (unlike, other science-based faiths). But keep your expectations to increased flexibility and inner peace, it can not cure cancer or diabetes (now the lifestyle associated with those who practice Yoga is associated with reduced risk of environmental diseases, but years of working in a plant that washed asbestos with benzene will not be erased by exercise and light vegetarian diet.) Yoga is not a panacea, it cannot fix you, it can show you the path but you must take the path. On your journey watch out for the snake oil vendors and con men, since they will tell you that the foundations of Yoga, which are solidly rooted in physiology and psychology can be extended to include to the seemingly unobtainable (promises similar to those made by other “science-based” faith systems.)
I will close with a question “Why India is a nuclear nation? ;)
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