Bhagavad Gita, Stephen Mitchell Translation 5:12
The resolute in yoga surrender
results, and gain perfect peace;
the irresolute, attached to results,
are bound by everything they do.
Spending some time with the Bhagavad Gita this week, I was struck by this quote. This excerpt along with the descriptions of the Gunas: Rajas, Tamas and Sattva brought me back to my first reaction to reading this classic text: Americans on a whole are a Rajasic Nation!
Rajas, is defined by The Bhagavad Gita as, "marked by passion born of craving and attachment" and , "Greed and constant activity, excessive projects, craving, restlessness"(Mitchell 158-9). Western terms we might apply to this guna are driven, Type A, goal oriented, mostly positive in connotation. Like the quote above, rajasic people are attached to results.
Its polar opposite on the spectrum on inbalance is Tamas, "ignorance-born...dullness, indolence, and sleep" (Mitchel 158). Western terms we would use to characterize a tamasic person would be lazy, shiftless or even depressed, a far more bleak picture by our culture's standards.
The state of balance between these two is Sattva, "untainted, luminous, free from sorrow, binds by means of attachment to knowledge and joy"(Mitchell 158).
It seems to me, that American Culture tends to value the traits of rajas. It is built into our mythology of The American Dream, if you only work hard enough, you will achieve the things that make us happy; mainly a house, a car, 2.5 kids, you get the picture. And it seems that we are only trending more in this direction. Ever watch the show Mad Men? The days of 4 martini lunches are long gone, (not that I'm advocating they return). Most folks I know don't even leave their desk / computer to eat lunch anymore. Productivity is paramount to joy, balance or even wisdom. The recent economic housing crises driven by predatory sub-prime loans is a perfect portrait of rajas gone wild. But I digress, this is a blog about William J. Broad's The New York Times article, not our economic quagmire.
Broad calls attention to a truth we tend to gloss over in the yoga community: sometimes people injure themselves with asana practice. Broad's article is colored by his own experience with injury and asana and I think, presents a fascinating portrait of the writers own mind, much more so than a unbiased appraisal of the health risks and benefits of yoga asana. To his way of thinking, Broad did everything right. After sustaining a slipped disc injury in his spine, he sought out yoga as a means to cure himself. He worked hard in asana class to strengthen his belly muscles to protect his spine with some success. However, when his back slipped out again while in side angle pose, he felt betrayed by yoga and draws the conclusion that asana as a practice is inherently unsafe.
I would like to ask Broad if I had the opportunity, "Where was your mind on that day in side angle when you back was re-injured? What instructions was the teacher providing about philosophy, alignment, finding an appropriate edge and striving?"
I would guess that his mind was not sattvic when his injury occurred.
Now the fact that he had to dig back to 1972 to find some really scary cases of injury seems supportive of the idea that most yoga injuries are not catastrophic. Torn hamstrings, wrist sprains, rotator cuff injuries are typical, not strokes. And there are already plenty of blogs to demonstrate that statistically speaking yoga is far less dangerous than running, tennis, baseball, (see Sadie Nardini's response for this).
But again, it is true. It is entirely possible to hurt your body when engaged in asana. I know I have. When I developed a daily asana practice after my father's death, I came to my mat each day with the fervor of a rabid dog desperate to devour my grief in the tapas, or intensity of the practice. Later, I used yoga with the goal of escaping work stress / anxiety. My practice was rigorous and I entered each pose striving to match my body to the yoga journal cover image in my mind. Eventually, blinded by rajas I tore my left hamstring attachment in competitive forward folding, (a sport wholly apart from asana and one I would not recommend). An injury I am now using yoga to slowly rehabilitate.
But even those who should know better, myself included, can find it hard to shake the mentality we were raised with. My father was a man who valued achievement and hard work as a path to happiness, whether in school, a job or exercise pursuit. It is difficult to quiet his voice in my mind that say, "Push, push", when stretching my hamstrings.
Entering a yoga teacher training program and reading the foundational texts such as The Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras helped me to understand what yoga really offers humanity which for me has become a philosophy that works to end suffering along with a way to better understand your mind and body
Problem is, most Americans arrive at yoga studios with the rajasic yet earnest desire to achieve and "get good at" yoga. Yet they have not studied the Bhagavad Gita or the Yoga Sutras. They lack a fundamental understanding of how to approach yoga as a practice and conflate yoga with one of it's eight limbs, asana. Combine daily stress with our rajasic, striving, goal oriented nature and what you can end up with is frustration and / or injury. Quite literally, the harder these students strive to open up their bodies and achieve a pose the more bound, physically from injury and mentally with frustration, they become. I know, because I've been there. The Bhagavad Gita foreshadows this eloquently when it warns, "The fruit of rajas is suffering"(Mitchell 160).
Suggested solutions? Traditionally, the science of yoga was transmitted by guru to student one on one. Along with asana, aspiring yogis were enculturated with the philosophy of yoga from texts like Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Hatha Yoga Pradipika, as one holistic practice. Though most students cannot afford or do not prefer private one on one lessons, perhaps its time to get all the limbs back together for a more balanced or sattvic yoga practice for the sake of safety for our students. There are countless teachers already offering seamless classes that blend asana, philosophy, meditation, with plenty of workout to satisfy our rajas. To students: seek out a teacher that offers this holistic approach for best results and to protect your body and mind.
The resolute in yoga surrender
results, and gain perfect peace;
the irresolute, attached to results,
are bound by everything they do.
Spending some time with the Bhagavad Gita this week, I was struck by this quote. This excerpt along with the descriptions of the Gunas: Rajas, Tamas and Sattva brought me back to my first reaction to reading this classic text: Americans on a whole are a Rajasic Nation!
Rajas, is defined by The Bhagavad Gita as, "marked by passion born of craving and attachment" and , "Greed and constant activity, excessive projects, craving, restlessness"(Mitchell 158-9). Western terms we might apply to this guna are driven, Type A, goal oriented, mostly positive in connotation. Like the quote above, rajasic people are attached to results.
Its polar opposite on the spectrum on inbalance is Tamas, "ignorance-born...dullness, indolence, and sleep" (Mitchel 158). Western terms we would use to characterize a tamasic person would be lazy, shiftless or even depressed, a far more bleak picture by our culture's standards.
The state of balance between these two is Sattva, "untainted, luminous, free from sorrow, binds by means of attachment to knowledge and joy"(Mitchell 158).
It seems to me, that American Culture tends to value the traits of rajas. It is built into our mythology of The American Dream, if you only work hard enough, you will achieve the things that make us happy; mainly a house, a car, 2.5 kids, you get the picture. And it seems that we are only trending more in this direction. Ever watch the show Mad Men? The days of 4 martini lunches are long gone, (not that I'm advocating they return). Most folks I know don't even leave their desk / computer to eat lunch anymore. Productivity is paramount to joy, balance or even wisdom. The recent economic housing crises driven by predatory sub-prime loans is a perfect portrait of rajas gone wild. But I digress, this is a blog about William J. Broad's The New York Times article, not our economic quagmire.
Broad calls attention to a truth we tend to gloss over in the yoga community: sometimes people injure themselves with asana practice. Broad's article is colored by his own experience with injury and asana and I think, presents a fascinating portrait of the writers own mind, much more so than a unbiased appraisal of the health risks and benefits of yoga asana. To his way of thinking, Broad did everything right. After sustaining a slipped disc injury in his spine, he sought out yoga as a means to cure himself. He worked hard in asana class to strengthen his belly muscles to protect his spine with some success. However, when his back slipped out again while in side angle pose, he felt betrayed by yoga and draws the conclusion that asana as a practice is inherently unsafe.
I would like to ask Broad if I had the opportunity, "Where was your mind on that day in side angle when you back was re-injured? What instructions was the teacher providing about philosophy, alignment, finding an appropriate edge and striving?"
I would guess that his mind was not sattvic when his injury occurred.
Now the fact that he had to dig back to 1972 to find some really scary cases of injury seems supportive of the idea that most yoga injuries are not catastrophic. Torn hamstrings, wrist sprains, rotator cuff injuries are typical, not strokes. And there are already plenty of blogs to demonstrate that statistically speaking yoga is far less dangerous than running, tennis, baseball, (see Sadie Nardini's response for this).
But again, it is true. It is entirely possible to hurt your body when engaged in asana. I know I have. When I developed a daily asana practice after my father's death, I came to my mat each day with the fervor of a rabid dog desperate to devour my grief in the tapas, or intensity of the practice. Later, I used yoga with the goal of escaping work stress / anxiety. My practice was rigorous and I entered each pose striving to match my body to the yoga journal cover image in my mind. Eventually, blinded by rajas I tore my left hamstring attachment in competitive forward folding, (a sport wholly apart from asana and one I would not recommend). An injury I am now using yoga to slowly rehabilitate.
But even those who should know better, myself included, can find it hard to shake the mentality we were raised with. My father was a man who valued achievement and hard work as a path to happiness, whether in school, a job or exercise pursuit. It is difficult to quiet his voice in my mind that say, "Push, push", when stretching my hamstrings.
Entering a yoga teacher training program and reading the foundational texts such as The Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras helped me to understand what yoga really offers humanity which for me has become a philosophy that works to end suffering along with a way to better understand your mind and body
Problem is, most Americans arrive at yoga studios with the rajasic yet earnest desire to achieve and "get good at" yoga. Yet they have not studied the Bhagavad Gita or the Yoga Sutras. They lack a fundamental understanding of how to approach yoga as a practice and conflate yoga with one of it's eight limbs, asana. Combine daily stress with our rajasic, striving, goal oriented nature and what you can end up with is frustration and / or injury. Quite literally, the harder these students strive to open up their bodies and achieve a pose the more bound, physically from injury and mentally with frustration, they become. I know, because I've been there. The Bhagavad Gita foreshadows this eloquently when it warns, "The fruit of rajas is suffering"(Mitchell 160).
Suggested solutions? Traditionally, the science of yoga was transmitted by guru to student one on one. Along with asana, aspiring yogis were enculturated with the philosophy of yoga from texts like Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Hatha Yoga Pradipika, as one holistic practice. Though most students cannot afford or do not prefer private one on one lessons, perhaps its time to get all the limbs back together for a more balanced or sattvic yoga practice for the sake of safety for our students. There are countless teachers already offering seamless classes that blend asana, philosophy, meditation, with plenty of workout to satisfy our rajas. To students: seek out a teacher that offers this holistic approach for best results and to protect your body and mind.
