Yoga: A Status Symbol or a Real Advantage - Essay Example

Penner Valerie Penner of the Persuasive Argument Essay English 27 July 2007 Yoga: A Status Symbol or a Real Advantage People around the world have been facing tremendous pressure and stress due to the increasing pace of life activities. There have been positive advancements in the global level in recent years due to the globalization and the corresponding technological progress. The world has become very small due to the information technology renovations in the last decade. The many people live in the cities have searched many methods and areas, where they can rebuild there draining energy due to the highly competitive environment. Disco and other nights clubs and gymnasiums, etc. in cities are thrived in these circumstances. Yoga, the eastern method of both physical and mental exercise, has been proved tremendous help for the real practitioners, even for the Hollywood film stars and high profile business executives. Although the researchers from the universities and medical hospitals in U.S and other nations have proved the benefits of yoga as the most effective practice for complete health, some are still complaining and laughing about the practice, as a time waste or not for everyone's reach. Even though, the centuries old system, yoga, has been practiced by most of the people in India as a complete solution for life's all problems, the west have taken it for the physical benefits and the little of optimum mental peacefulness just sufficient to keep them away from the daily stressful life. There arguments have even grown stronger when they prove that yoga caused even harm to some, even they have practiced regularly. This has been continuing for more than lat one decade in global level. But the negative effects or non-effect of yoga has not been affected to the regular methodical practitioners. Penner 2 Yoga is an ancient system of yogic practice started in India around five thousand year back. Yoga means union of the self with the higher universal self. The practical yoga has many aspects. Physical postures called Asana, the breathing practices called Pranayama and the concentrating the mind to one object for higher concentration, known as Meditation, are the different steps of yoga practice. In ordinary life, in every country, people are practicing physical asana and they claim as they are the regular practitioners of yoga. But the physical postures or Asana are the basic or only preliminary step of yoga practice. Yogasana are practiced in order to make the body and mind flexible and free to sit and practice Pranayama and the Meditation which are the real and core of the yoga practice. This basic truth has not been conveyed properly to the people of the developed countries like U.S. and U.K. That is why many complain, that they don't benefit from yoga after practicing it for many years! In fact the truth behind such complaints are, they are basically doing very few physical asana and complain about not having any mental peace or not getting real peace of mind that yoga or the yoga practitioners offer! This passing comment or complaint has made by many practitioners, though they are not seriously involved in the regular practice! The advice from many yoga practitioners to such people are that, first of all they should learn the way of practicing yoga from a competent regular yoga practitioner or teacher or what they in India call 1'Guru'. There are many techniques in yoga. Even if one is doing only Physical asana, there are many asana which are not suitable for everyone. So the wrong asana practice can bring physical or mental problems to the person who practices it. Also there are different conditions, which should be satisfied for practicing it. The place one choose, the time convenient for the practice, etc are very important. All these can be rightly instructed by real practitioners. Otherwise practice yoga in a wrong way can create mental and physical problems. Penner 3 Practice of yoga under proper guidance can bring many health benefits which includes, control of blood pressure, and calmness to the mind, increased and sharp concentration of the mind and the intellect and the perfect and good sleep, and various small and large qualities that one looks to improve in one's own health aspects. Even the medical researchers in U.S have proved that these statements of Yoga practitioners are true. In a separate published study, researchers at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, found that yoga postures and breathing exercises can help reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine headaches (Condor, D2). The news, reported in the journal Headache, followed 72 migraine-troubled adults who were randomly assigned to take part in a yoga therapy program or a headache education group (Condor, D2). The author of the book "Healing Yoga for People Living with Cancer", Lisa Holtby says that yoga can fit into medical treatment protocol (Condor D1). She also comments though drugs have their place, they don't help people change behaviors (Condor D1). So many have developed faith and confidence in the practice of yoga and have understood that yoga can bring changes in the people's attitude and behaviors. This is what yoga offers to a common man, where by practice of it, one can reach higher intellectual levels and attain self realization. But in developed world people especially scientific community, wanted the results in common daily life. This kind of demand of the some people who are skeptical about yoga and its benefits are satisfied by the research that has made by some U.S. medical researchers. Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and McLean Hospital have found that practicing yoga may elevate brain gamma-amino butyric (GABA) levels, the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter (Digravio 5). This is major research is a fine evidence that yoga can benefit to the real holistic health of the people. Practicing yoga might boost a neurotransmitter associated with regulating depression and anxiety disorders, according to a new report in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine Penner 4 (Digravio 5). People in cities have been facing increased stress and related problems due to the life style and this is highly reflected in today's youth. The report also reveals that the World Health Organization reports that mental illness makes up to fifteen percent of disease in the world and the depression and anxiety disorders both contribute to this burden and is associated with low GABA levels (Digravio, 5). Depression and anxiety are increased due to life style including the erratic food habits and continuous and long working hours in stressful environment. According to the researchers, yoga has shown promise in improving symptoms associated with depression, anxiety and epilepsy. According to Senior author Perry Renshaw, MD, Ph.D., Director of the Brain Imaging Center at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, the development of an inexpensive, widely available intervention such as yoga that has no side effects but is effective in alleviating the symptoms of disorders associated with low GABA levels has clear public health advantage (Digravio, 5). A recent survey of faculty at a medical school that emphasizes primary care found that more than 70 percent of respondents rated five therapies (nutrition and diet, counseling and psychotherapy, fitness and exercise, emotional support groups, and biofeedback) as legitimate medical practices, and more than 50 percent rated another six therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, and meditation) as legitimate and a healthier, more revitalizing way to boost your mood and energy while lowering your blood pressure and heart rate is yoga, says New York City yoga Instructor Edward Vilga (Kraft, D1). While the research findings support yoga for its health supportive power and benefits to anybody who practices regularly, certain people in society is complaining about yoga as a status symbol. Ron Rosenbaum says that commercialization has spoiled yoga very much and does object to what he calls the commodification and rhetorical dumbing-down of yoga culture and one manifestation of this takeover is the shameless enlistment of yoga and Penner 5 elevated Easter yogic philosophy for shamelessly Western goals (Dutton, ). More than 1.7 million British Columbians (43 per cent of the population) have either tried yoga or plan to do so, according to a 2005 Mustel Group poll conducted for The Vancouver Sun (Todd, C9). Todd asks that whether yoga has lost something in the translation to mass popularity and its spiritual and ethical core He is worried that anybody is anybody can be a yoga teacher now and anybody is. His complaints that some of the yoga teachers possess philosophical and psychological wisdom and some do not (Todd, C9). Georg Feuerstein, one of the world's foremost scholars of yoga, makes a convincing case that yoga has become a victim of its own phenomenal popularity (Todd, C9). David Lawson agree historically though, yoga appears to have emerged from Hindu culture and has been practiced for several thousands, yoga system do not belongs to Hinduism and there Buddhists and Taoist yoga practices around 200 years old (Lawson, 5). However, yoga systems do not belong exclusively to Hinduism. Buddhist and Taoist yoga practices have been around for at least 2000 years and, like all religious, philosophical and political systems, there have been splinter groups and schisms. So there are valid research reports that supports why yoga is recommended for human kind for the better preservation of our body system. Not only the experience of the eastern spiritual yoga practitioners but also the U.S. Medical researchers have supported yoga for curing the various stress related situations like depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, etc. So it is not just a status symbol as taken it in high cities, especially among celebrities and business men. It is a life giving technique for any needy. It can be practiced as part of your daily life in order to rejuvenate the body system. There are situations, people fall into the impression that yoga is just a commercial or business symbol of many high class of the society due to its commercialized advertisements and wrong way of promotion, like that of a marketing product. Common man if they fall into such wrong impression about yoga and its Penner 6 importance as not an important or valuable tool in making ordinary man in to a disciplined one, one can not blame for that. The wrong way of promotion of yoga by such marketing gurus are the real problem in this precious method, regarded as only a status symbol or just as a stretch for show off. Otherwise man kind will be realized one day yoga as a basic answer for all human problems, for physical, mental and spiritual. Otherwise were one can show in the history of human development and soul searching, such a powerful technique for making an ordinary man to a real knowledgeable self realized master. Works Cited Condor, B. Researcher Documents the Benefits of Yoga in Lifting Depression. Life and Arts. 8 June 2007, The Seatle Post-Intelligencer. Date 27 July 2007 Condor, B. It's not a Stretch: Anybody Can Do Yoga. Life and Arts. 23 April 2007, The Seatle Post-Intelligencer. Date 27 July 2007 Digravio, G.M. Study Finds Yoga Associates with Elevated Brain GABA Levels. U.S. State News. Boston 22 May 200y. Date 27 July 2007 Kraft, I., Yoga: It can Pick You up, Calm You Down at the Office. Life and Health. 3rd Edition. The Times Union. New York. Hearst: 13 March 2007. Date 27 July 2007 Dutton, D. Arts & Letters: The Commodification of Yoga Culture. COMMENTARY. Newhouse News Service : 2007. Date 30 July 2007 Read More